#fox should have just paid their writers better it's not that hard

[troidatoi]

Day 4 - 8/30/2023

Dawg, I can't believe August is almost over. Today was okay. I went to USC to return my laptop and id card but I forgot to bring back the laptop charger. lmao. I asked my manager if she can send me a shipping label and she was like lol, no worries and that she can send me another one or USC can just provide another one. I'm pretty sad they couldn't keep as I know my manager wanted me to stay but onto bigger and better things! Disney rejected me today which is fine. I'm still waiting to hear back from Warner Brothers. I don't understand why they won't pay their writers. I had my interview with Fox Sports yesterday and I think it went well. It was more like a conversation but it was cool because it felt relaxed and to be honest, all interviews should be like that! I would love to work for them because I love sports!! Lakers ride or dieeee. It was nice talking to him about favorite sports teams and players. When they hire me, I'll take it on the spot and yes I said when because I need a job asap. I'm being delusional and manifesting it because it works. LOL. *By the end of September, Fox Sports is going to hire me. I claim it with so much love and gratitude.*

Anyways, my USC manager bought me Starbucks and we got the same drink. She wanted to get me lunch but since I'm fasting to heal my leaky gut, I didn't want to risk it. It was nice seeing her again and talking. I was lowkey scared that they were going to give me a ticket because I only paid for an hour and we went over an hour. I know she fought hard to keep me and I am forever grateful that she hired me and that I got spend the time working at USC and having that on my resume. Learning a different form of digital media is cool. So now I can say that I have video and photography background. She thanked me for all the hard work even said I got more done that she thought I would have. Hopefully, I have a full time job by the end of September.

I'm on day three of the bone broth fast and it's not too bad. I'm not sure if I should do a month but I really want to heal my gut and have all the nutrients get absorbed into my body again. I was talking to my gut health dietician and I told her that it was so hard for me to eat because I can feel every fucking symptom and it's so hard because I go somewhere and I have to figure it out if I can eat it and I don't want to risk my body feeling like shit so I just starve so I can drink broth at home. She told me that it's okay to feel like everything sucks because I'm on a healing journey but I'm going in the right direction. She said I don't need to feel positive all the time and I was so happy to hear her say that. I try to not sound negative all the time but this process sucks ass. LMAO. I know I'm doing everything I can and I'm following the treatment plan but I wish I found the dietician sooner. She explains what I'm going through better than my holistic doctor now. LOL. No offense to her. She said I can take biocidin with the treatment plan but like don't tell my doctor. lmfao. I do find that it's helping with the bloating and inflammation a little but not sure if I should start eating real food. I so badly want to eat again and eat all the things I love with gluten, dairy and sugar like my gut needs to heal!! And I believe it will and I know it takes time. I know I'm doing something right and I know I'm going to be okay and the bloating and inflammation will go away and my clothes will fit again!! I BELIEVE.

I had to break up with my therapist yesterday because I can't afford her anymore and I'm so sad. lol. I teared up when I told her and then I had my Fox Sports interview after. I love my therapist. I think she's helped me grown so much and even when I have setbacks, she's always reassuring and telling me that it's okay to have setbacks and that doesn't erase all the work I did!!! I'm obviously going to go back to her once Fox Sports hires me and I have the money for her. I was talking to her about my health and it was hard being positive all the time because it's such a shitty thing to go through to not be able to eat anything in fear of getting a reaction. And my therapist says being positive is overrated and I was very shocked but also like fuck yeah!! LOL. I obviously don't want to be negative about this as I know I'm doing everything I can to heal my gut but omg does it fucking suck ass LMAO. Like I just want to vent and scream and destroy something. And not having a job on top of going through all this makes me want to off myself. lmao BUT IT'S OKAY BECAUSE I'M GOING TO BE OKAY. God really giving me his toughest battles because for some reason he thinks I'm his strongest soldier but I hope that after everything, something amazing is going to happen to me and it is because I said so and what I say goes. It sucks having to cut out some things in order to save money but I got to do what I got to do.

I also tried on a pair of shorts and I didn't struggle wearing them so that's a plus! It didn't feel tight so I assume the fast is working but the bloating and inflammation is there. I see it going down though!! I just can't wait to eat again and not feel these symptoms but I know I'm doing it to feel better and not having to deal with it in the future. I also got my period yesterday which is like yay cause last week I had a health scare but the holistic doctor said it's cause of the treatment plan so my hormones would be off for a little bit but glad it came back to normal this week. Small wins are still wins and I'll take these as small wins. And like La Roux said when I messaged her on Instagram when I was feeling sad and shitty, whatever it is, I got this!

[monotonous-minutia]

Bones: Zack & Gormogon

One thing that really bothers me about the Season 3 finale on "Bones"--aside from the entire thing being bogus--is the issue of the mandible. Granted, the authors did really well with what they had, being compelled to wrap up much more quickly than they should have, because of the strike. Instead of having half a season to build up to it, they had one episode to write out Zack's character, tie him to the murder in a convincing way, and craft a story around it that was appropriately emotional. Not that anything about the episode was "convincing" or "appropriate"...especially if, as rumors have it, Zack was written out of the show because the producers found out the actor who portrayed him is gay. Stupid Fox. So, given all this, the writers did a heck of a job tying up all the loose ends and compelling us to believe that this was reasonable. Using Zack's character flaws and Brennan's intense understanding of him to put it all together. But there are so many things that don't fit. There are 3 episodes that concern Gormogon leading up to the finale. The first one is the Season 3 premiere, right when Zack comes back from Iraq. So obviously he's not tied up in any of it yet. He helps them figure out the whole thing, with the diamond tooth and the second set of teeth marks. Then there's "The Intern in the Incinerator," which has less to do with Gormogon than some of the others, but still ties in. Again, Zack is seen doing everything he can to help solve the mystery. The most compelling case is "The Knight on the Grid." Zack is integral in this one, finding clue after clue that leads them closer to solving the mystery. So does everyone else, but it's pretty clear Zack is consciously trying to help them thwart Gormogon, which he wouldn't be doing if he was already working for him. The only thing that could remotely indicate his being in league with the killer is how quickly he dismisses the numbers on the bone. But it could be argued that he had his brain set on "alpha-numeric" mode, so he was trying to keep on track. He thinks way faster than anyone else, we know that. Zack is too smart to help people find clues that would lead them towards the plot he is a part of. We could argue that the clues he helps find don't ultimately lead to Gormogon, but neither do anyone else's. It's just that Gormogon is still untouchable right now. Zack is not solely responsible for their not finding Gormogon right away. None of his findings were misleading, it's just that Gormogon gets the better of them. So it makes more sense that he is legitimately helping the Jeffersonian team. The big kicker is the end. This is where the lobbyist is killed. For several episodes after Season 3 ends, we're all left believing that Zack was the one that killed this guy. But if we assume that in this episode Zack was trying to help, why would he so quickly turn around and kill someone (or, as what actually happened, tell someone else where to find the victim)? Zack said he was approached at a conference and taken to Gormogon's hideout. There would have been no time for this between Zack trying to help solve the case and the murder of the lobbyist. Then the biggie here--the killer is fast, but we can see the face of the person jumping out of the closet, and IT'S NOT ZACK. So were we supposed to know the entire time that he wasn't the killer, or is this just evidence of the fact that it was never supposed to be him to begin with? And there's the mandible, which I started this post with. Zack lies about the teeth marks on the mandible so he can use it as an excuse to do an experiment that's meant to distract the others so he can sneak the mandible away and put it on the silver skeleton. Here's the thing though. Zack is the one that grabs the package and hands it to Brennan. If he's been working with Gormogon, he would have known what was inside that box. If his job was to put it on the silver skeleton, why didn't he just keep the box to himself and wait till he could sneak it down to the vault? He stays late at the lab all the time; he could easily find a time when no one's around. He didn't have to give Brennan the box, but he did, knowing he was making his own job harder. We could assume that he didn't know what was in the box, but upon its being opened, realized what he had to do with its contents. But that leads us to another dilemma. Why would Gormogon put Zack in that spot? Why would he make Zack's job harder? He could have sent the box directly to Zack if he simply wanted him to do something he couldn't. He could have arranged another meeting to give Zack the mandible in person. He could have done it himself, as he's had access to the vault via the mirrors. There are so many alternatives to handing over the mandible in such a way that the others would see it before Zack had the chance to make the switch. So either he purposely put Zack on the spot, or Zack for some reason wanted the others to get involved with the mandible. Is this just poor writing? Or am I the one that's missing something? I'm genuinely befuddled here. Zack says that the Apprentice is expendable. We see this in action when the first Apprentice they encounter (Jason from 3x1) either kills himself or is killed by Gormogon after his carelessness inadvertently leads the Jeffersonian team to the Gormogon vault. Gormogon does not hesitate in disposing of the ones who are no longer useful to him. Was the whole deal with the mandible his way of disposing of Zack? Was he setting Zack up for failure because Zack wasn't good enough? Was that his way of sacrificing Zack to the cause? If so, why then? Did he think Zack was too weak? Was he too close to the rest of them? Did he find someone better? Were the writers planning to elaborate on the story or are these all things that occurred because the whole thing was rushed? Because honestly, half of this could have been solved by just having someone else hand Brennan the box. That seems like a pretty big thing right there and I'm surprised no one else is talking about it. Granted this was over ten years ago. I'm a little late to the party. If anyone has revelations clue me in. I think about this way too much. I have an entire schematic put together of all of this. For real. I have a conspiracy board full of pictures and leads, complete with color-coded strings connecting related ideas and themes. I spent hours on it. Days. It's sad really

[whitehotharlots]

“Literal violence” and the death of the heterodox

I teach college students. This means I assign young people things to read. If the students don’t do the reading--if they consider it too boring or uninteresting or difficult--they don’t do well in the class. I update my reading lists every semester, because what was interesting to students a few years or even months ago might not click with the students of today. Sometimes students love what they’re assigned. Sometimes they hate it. And it’s very hard to tell if a piece is or isn’t going to work until I’ve assigned it and gotten feedback. 

As I’ve gotten older it has become more difficult to relate to young people. This is a completely normal part of life--nothing to be ashamed of or panic about, and I think almost everyone agrees that it’s more dignified to age gracefully than to try too hard to seem hip or with it. And so, over the past few years, as I’ve found it nearly impossible to find good, engaging writing with a broad appeal, I figured it was just because I, naturally, don’t relate to young people as much as I used to.

But lately--certainly since Trump’s ascendance, but perhaps going back as far as the early twenty-teens--mainstream writing has become incredibly predictable. Name any event and I can tell you almost word-for-word how it will be discussed in Jezebel vs. Teen Vogue vs. The Root vs The Intercept. And, increasingly, there’s been very little analytical divergence even between different publications. Everyone to the left of Fox News seems to agree upon just about everything, and all analysis has been boiled down to the repetition of one of a half-dozen or so aphorisms about privilege or validity. There is, in short, a proper and improper way to describe and understand anything that happens, and a writer is simply not going to get published if they have an improper understanding of the world. 

This, I think, is the result of our normalizing hyperbolic overstatements of harm and the danger posed by anything short of absolute fealty to orthodox liberalism. If it’s “literal violence” to express mild criticism and incredulity, people aren’t going to do so. Editors don’t want to risk accusations of “platforming fascists,” and so there’s been very little pushback against fascism being recently re-defined as “anything that displeases upper middle class Democrats.” 

Not long ago, it was commonplace on the left to celebrate the internet’s ability to allow writers to bypass the gatekeeping functions of old media. With mainstream liberalism needing a scapegoat to explain away the failures of the post-2008 Democratic party, however, the tone has shifted. 

Case in point, Clio Chang’s rather chilling piece from the Columbia Journalism Review that seeks to problematize an open platform called Substack.. Substack allows writers to publish almost whatever they want, outside of editorial control, and then charge a subscription to readers. As more and more websites and print media are being hollowed out and sacrificed to the gods of speculative capital, a large number of big-name writers have embraced this new platform. It has also allowed writers to report on stories that are objectively true but inconvenient to the Democratic establishment, such as Matt Taibbi’s admirable work debunking Russiagate bullshit. 

Chang begins with a lengthy description of Substack’s creation. She stresses that no one—not even the site’s founders and most successful writers—consider it an ideal replacement for the well-funded journalism of old. Chang focuses on one particular Substack newsletter called “Coronavirus News For Black Folks” which appears to be moderately successful (the piece cites 2000+ subscribers, and its founder is earning enough to have hired an assistant editor). Even after describing how the platform has given large grants and stipends to other newsletter run by women and people of color, the fact that this one particular newsletter isn’t as successful as others is held up as proof of the platform’s malignancy.

​“Coronavirus News For Black Folks” may be somewhat successful, but Chang implies that it rightfully should be even more successful, and that something evil must be afoot. Simple arithmetic tells us that a specialized newsletter—one pitched specifically to a minority audience and only covering one particular issue—is going to have a smaller readership than a more general interest piece. Rather than accept this simple explanation, Chang instead embraces the liberal tendency to blame a lack of desired outcomes upon the presence of evil forces.

While Chang provides a thorough overview of the current, fucked state of media and journalism, at no point does she grapple with the role that mainstream liberalism has played in abetting the industry’s collapse. This is surprising, as a quick google search suggests she generally has solid, left-wing politics. This omission reveals a problematic gap in left analysis, and bodes poorly for any hope of leftism accomplishing any material goals while the movement remains aligned with more mainstream identity politics. Even as she cogently explains the destruction of media and the hellish future that lay before writers, Chang still embraces the mystical fatalism that liberals have been leaning on since 2010 or so, when it became clear that Obama wasn’t going to make good on any promises of hope or change. She blames our nation’s horrors not elite leadership, but on the presence of people and ideas she doesn’t like. In this case, Substack is problematic because many of its writers are white and male, and some are even conservative:

When [Andrew] Sullivan joined Substack, over the summer, he put the company’s positioning to the test: infamous for publishing excerpts from The Bell Curve, a book that promotes bigoted race “science,” Sullivan would now produce the Weekly Dish, a political newsletter. (Substack’s content guidelines draw a line at hate speech.) Sullivan’s Substack quickly rose to become the fifth-most-read among paid subscriptions—he claimed that his income had risen from less than $200,000 at New York magazine to $500,000. When I asked the founders if they thought his presence might discourage other writers from joining, they gave me a pat reply. “We’re not a media company,” Best said. “If somebody joins the company and expects us to have an editorial position and be rigorously enforcing some ideological line, this is probably not the company they wanted to join in the first place.”

I’m no fan of Andrew Sullivan, but the man has spent decades building and maintaining his audience. Of course he’s going to have a larger readership than someone who is just starting out. This isn’t a sign of anything nefarious. It’s basic commonsense. But there’s no other conclusions that can be reached: things are bad because people haven’t done enough to root out badness. Things are bad because evil exists. The only way we can attempt reform is to make the evil people go away. Anyone who says anything I don’t like is evil and their words are evil and they shouldn’t be published.

Chang doesn’t make any direct suggestions for remediating Substack, but her implications are clear: equity requires censorship and ideological conformity. Providing any platform for people who are disliked by the liberal mainstream, be they too far left or too indelicate with their conservative cruelty, equates to harming vulnerable people—even when those vulnerable people freely admit to making money off the same platform. There is no room for dissent. There is no possibility of reform. The boundaries of acceptable discourse must grow narrower and narrower. Only when we free our world from the presence of the bad ones will change magically arrive.

NOTE: I wrote a follow-up to this piece that I think does a better job of articulating the points I was trying to make.

[kuramirocket]

Whenever I visit Olvera Street, as I did a couple of weeks ago, my walk through the historic corridor is always the same.

Start at the plaza. Pass the stand where out-of-towners and politicians have donned sombreros and serapes for photos ever since the city turned this area into a tourist trap in 1930.

Look at the vendor stalls. Wonder if I need a new guayabera. Gobble up two beef taquitos bathed in avocado salsa at Cielito Lindo. Then return to my car and go home.

I’ve done this walk as a kid, and as an adult. For food crawls and quick lunches. With grad students on field trips, and with the late Anthony Bourdain for an episode of his “Parts Unknown.”

This last visit was different, though: I had my own camera crew with me.

My last chance at Hollywood fame was going to live or die on Olvera Street.

I was shooting a sizzle reel — footage that a producer will turn into a clip for television executives to determine whether I’m worthy of a show. In this case, I want to turn my 2012 book “Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America” into the next “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.” Or “Somebody Feed Phil.” Or an Alton Brown ripoff. Or a TikTok series.

Anything at this point, really.

For more than a decade, I’ve tried to break into Hollywood with some success — but the experience has left me cynical. Personal experience and the historical record have taught me that studios and streamers still want Mexicans to stay in the same cinematic lane that American film has paved for more than a century. We’re forever labeled… something. Exotic. Dangerous. Weighed down with problems. Never fully developed, autonomous humans. Always “Mexican.”

Even if we’re natives of Southern California. Especially if we’re natives of Southern California.

I hope my sizzle reel will lead to something different. I doubt it will because the issue is systemic. Industry executives, producers, directors and scriptwriters can only portray the Mexicans they know — and in a perverse, self-fulfilling prophecy, they mostly only know the Mexicans their industry depicts even in a region where Latinos make up nearly half the population.

The vicious cycle even infects creators like me.

As the film crew and I left for our next location, I stopped and looked around. We were right where I began, except I now looked south on Main Street. The plaza was to my left. City Hall loomed on the horizon. The vista was the same as the opening scene of “Bordertown,” a 1935 Warner Bros. film I had seen the night before. It was the first Hollywood movie to address modern-day Mexican Americans in Los Angeles.

What I saw was more than déjà vu. It was a reminder that 86 years later, Hollywood’s Mexican problem hasn’t really progressed at all.

Birth of a stereotype

Screen misrepresentation of Mexicans isn’t just a longstanding wrong; it’s an original sin. And it has an unsurprising Adam: D.W. Griffith.

He’s most infamous for reawakening the Ku Klux Klan with his 1915 epic “The Birth of a Nation.” Far less examined is how Griffith’s earliest works also helped give American filmmakers a language with which to typecast Mexicans.

Two of his first six films were so-called “greaser” movies, one-reelers where Mexican Americans were racialized as inherently criminal and played by white people. His 1908 effort “The Greaser’s Gauntlet” is the earliest film to use the slur in its title. Griffith filmed at least eight greaser movies on the East Coast before heading to Southern California in early 1910 for better weather.

The new setting allowed Griffith to double down on his Mexican obsession. He used the San Gabriel and San Juan Capistrano missions as backdrops for melodramas embossed with the Spanish Fantasy Heritage, the white California myth that romanticized the state’s Mexican past even as it discriminated against the Mexicans of the present.

In films such as his 1910 shorts “The Thread of Destiny,” “In Old California” (the first movie shot in what would become Hollywood) and “The Two Brothers,” Griffith codified cinematic Mexican characters and themes that persist. The reprobate father. The saintly mother. The wayward son. The idea that Mexicans are forever doomed because they’re, well, Mexicans.

Griffith based his plots not on how modern-day Mexicans actually lived, but rather on how white people thought they did. 

A riot nearly broke out as Latinos felt the scene mocked them. It was perhaps the earliest Latino protest against negative depictions of them on the big screen.

But the threat of angry Mexicans didn’t kill greaser movies. Griffith showed the box-office potential of the genre, and many American cinematic pioneers dabbled in them. Thomas Edison’s company shot some, as did its biggest rival, Vitagraph Studios. So did Mutual Film, an early home for Charlie Chaplin. Horror legend Lon Chaney played a greaser. The first western star, Broncho Billy Anderson, made a career out of besting them.

These films were so noxious that the Mexican government in 1922 banned studios that produced them from the country until they “retired... denigrating films from worldwide circulation,” according to a letter that Mexican President Álvaro Obregón wrote to his Secretariat of External Relations. The gambit worked: the greaser films ended. Screenwriters instead reimagined Mexicans as Latin lovers, Mexican spitfires, buffoons, peons, mere bandits and other negative stereotypes.

That’s why “Bordertown” surprised me when I finally saw it. The Warner Bros. movie, starring Paul Muni as an Eastside lawyer named Johnny Ramirez and Bette Davis as the temptress whom he spurns, was popular when released. Today, it’s almost impossible to see outside of a hard-to-find DVD and an occasional Muni marathon on Turner Classic Movies.

Based on a novel of the same name; Muni was a non-Mexican playing a Mexican. Johnny Ramirez had a fiery temper, a bad accent and repeatedly called his mother (played by Spanish actress Soledad Jiminez ) “mamacita,” who in turn calls him “Juanito.” The infamous, incredulous ending has Ramirez suddenly realizing the vacuity of his fast, fun life and returning to the Eastside “back where I belong ... with my own people.” And the film’s poster features a bug-eyed, sombrero-wearing Muni pawing a fetching Davis, even though Ramirez never made a move on Davis’ character or wore a sombrero.

These and other faux pas (like Ramirez’s friends singing “La Cucaracha” at a party) distract from a movie that didn’t try to mask the discrimination Mexicans faced in 1930s Los Angeles. Ramirez can’t find justice for his neighbor, who lost his produce truck after a drunk socialite on her way back from dinner at Las Golondrinas on Olvera Street smashed into it. That very socialite, whom Ramirez goes on to date (don’t ask), repeatedly calls him “Savage” as a term of endearment. When Ramirez tires of American bigotry and announces he’s moving south of the border to run a casino, a priest in brownface asks him to remain.

“For what?” Ramirez replies. “So those white little mugs who call themselves gentlemen and aristocrats can make a fool out of me?”

“Bordertown” sprung up from Warner Bros.’ Depression-era roster of social-problem films that served as a rough-edged alternative to the escapism offered by MGM, Disney and Paramount. But its makers committed the same error Griffith did: They fell back on tropes instead of talking to Mexicans right in front of them who might offer a better tale.

Just take the first shot of “Bordertown,” the one I inadvertently recreated on my television shoot.

Under a title that reads “Los Angeles … the Mexican Quarter,” viewers see Olvera Street’s plaza emptier than it should be. That’s because just four years earlier, immigration officials rounded up hundreds of individuals at that very spot. The move was part of a repatriation effort by the American government that saw them boot about a million Mexicans — citizens and not — from the United States during the 1930s.

Following that opening shot is a brief glimpse of a theater marquee that advertises a Mexican music trio called Los Madrugadores (“The Early Risers”). They were the most popular Spanish-language group in Southern California at the time, singing traditional corridos but also ballads about the struggles Mexicans faced in the United States. Lead singer Pedro J. González hosted a popular AM radio morning show heard as far away as Texas that mixed music and denunciations against racism.

By the time “Bordertown” was released in 1935, Gonzalez was in San Quentin, jailed by a false accusation of statutory rape pursued by an L.A. district attorney’s office happy to lock up a critic. He was freed in 1940 after the alleged victim recanted her confession, then summarily deported to Tijuana, where Gonzalez continued his career before returning to California in the 1970s.

Doesn’t Gonzalez and his times make a better movie than “Bordertown”? Warner Bros. could have offered a bold corrective to the image of Mexican Americans if they had just paid attention to their own footage! Instead, Gonzalez’s saga wouldn’t be told on film until a 1984 documentary and 1988 drama.

Both were shot in San Diego. Both received only limited screenings at theaters across the American Southwest and an airing on PBS before going on video. No streamer carries it.

How Hollywood imagines Mexicans versus how we really are turned real for me in 2013, when I became a consulting producer for a Fox cartoon about life on the U.S.-Mexico border.

The title? “Bordertown.”

It aired in 2015 and lasted one season. I enjoyed the end product. I even got to write an episode, which just so happened to be the series finale.

The gig was a dream long deferred. My bachelor’s degree from Chapman University was in film. I had visions of becoming the brown Tarantino or a Mexican Truffaut before journalism got in the way. Over the years, there was Hollywood interest in articles or columns I wrote but never anything that required I do more than a couple of meetings — or scripts by white screenwriters that went nowhere.

But “Bordertown” opened up more doors for me and inspired me to give Hollywood a go.

While I worked on the cartoon, I got another consulting producer credit on a Fusion special for comedian Al Madrigal and sold a script to ABC that same year about gentrification in Boyle Heights through the eyes of a restaurant years before the subject became a trend. Pitch meetings piled up with so much frequency that my childhood friends coined a nickname for me: Hollywood Gus.

My run wouldn’t last long. The microagressions became too annoying.

The veteran writers on “Bordertown” rolled their eyes any time I said that one of their jokes was clichéd, like the one about how eating beans gave our characters flatulent superpowers or the one about a donkey show in Tijuana. Or when they initially rejected a joke about menudo, saying no one knew what the soup was, and they weren’t happy when another Latino writer and I pointed out that you’re pretty clueless if you’ve lived in Southern California for a while and don’t know what menudo is.

The writers were so petty, in fact, that they snuck a line into the animated “Bordertown” where the main character said, “There’s nothing worse than a Mexican with glasses” — which is now my public email to forever remind me of how clueless Hollywood is.

The insults didn’t bother me so much as the insight I gained from those interactions: The only Latinos most Hollywood types know are the janitors and security guards at the studio, and nannies and gardeners at their homes. The few Latinos in the industry I met had assimilated into this worldview as well.

Could I blame them for their ignorance when it came to capturing Mexican American stories, especially those in Southern California? Of course I can.

What ended any aspirations for a full-time Hollywood career was a meeting with a television executive shortly after ABC passed on my Boyle Heights script (characters weren’t believable, per the rejection). They repeatedly asked that I think about doing a show about my father’s life, which didn’t interest me. Comedies about immigrant parents are clichéd at this point. So one day I blurted that I was more interested in telling my stories.

I never heard from the executive again.

A pair of boots

Five years later, and that Hollywood dream just won’t leave me.

I’m not leaving journalism. But at this point, I just want to prove to myself that I can help exorcise D.W. Griffith’s anti-Mexican demons from Hollywood once and for all. That I can show the Netflix honcho they were wrong for passing on a “Taco USA” series with the excuse that the topic of Mexican food in the United States was too “limited.” And the Food Network people who said they just couldn’t see a show about the subject as being as “fun” as it was. Or the bigtime Latino actor’s production company who wanted the rights to my "¡Ask a Mexican!” book, then ghosted me after I said I didn’t hold them but I did own the rights to my brain.

When this food-show sizzle reel gets cut, and I start my Hollywood jarabe anew, I’ll keep in mind a line in “Bordertown” that Johnny Ramirez said: “An American man can lift himself up by his bootstraps. All he needs is strength and a pair of boots.”

Mexicans have had the strength since forever in this town. But can Hollywood finally give us the botas?

[ethelphantom]

Death Doesn’t Discriminate (Between the Sinners and the Saints)

If this is the first fandom you read fics from me, you might not know that I am, in fact, not a fluff writer. I am an angst writer, and my angst is almost never light. You might've gotten a taste from it from my prompt fill for the 9th day, soulmates. My expertise is grief and loss and, you guessed it, death. Oh, and insanity. This... is probably what you should expect from me for the next few writing prompt fills... Oops? Today’s prompt just so happens to be death.

So yeah. Death. And grief. And brief implications of losing one's mind. Please mind the warnings. The death's aren't graphic, nor is the descriptions of corpses, but like, both are still somewhat described so it might be disturbing to someone? Please be careful. Love you all!

Ao3

This is Maribat -- don’t like; don’t read

______

The freezing wind played with her hair as she felt like the skin of her face was going to break in the cold. The tears that flowed down her face froze as soon as they left her eyes, but Marinette couldn’t bring herself to care. Yet another day in their ruined paradise had passed by, but she didn’t know what to make of it because said paradise that she had loved, no matter how cruel and ruined it was, had now come to an end.

The butterfly brooch in a tight grip was close to breaking, so hard she was squeezing it. It didn’t matter. Why would it matter if it broke? It was the fault of its wielder they were here now anyway. She blamed everything on those who had wrongly taken Miraculouses and used them for their own gain, because of their own greed.

Ryuko placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. “Look at the bright side. We won, we finally won. You got the brooch, Agreste and Sancoeur are on their way to prison. The war you’ve been fighting for years has finally come to an end. You won”, she said and gave her a small sad smile. Her eyes betrayed her emotions though — she was devastated. It was in no way surprising, they had just had to watch too many of their comrades die — and even Ladybug’s Miraculous Cure wasn’t strong enough to bring them back. No.

She should’ve remembered. Nothing could bring the dead back to life.

She should’ve taken better care of them.

They had won through the loss of countless innocent lives — their victory had been secured by countless tragic demises. It was all their fault.

“I… Won?”

The bracelet of the turtle laid upon the snow, and its wielder was detransformed, dead on the ground for all the world to see. Walking past him, Marinette picked up the Miraculous and bowed to her fallen comrade, to her former friend. His shield had not been strong enough to protect him from Hawkmoth’s sword.

The corpse of the one who was supposed to manipulate time and give them a second chance was leaning against a tree, his blood having already turned the white snow under him a glaring red. Marinette knelt next to him, squeezed his fingers and took off the miraculous. It revealed a young man with blue hair, one of the few to stand beside her through thick and thin in both her civilian life and behind the glamour of the Miraculous. One last time she brought her hand to her heart and paid her respects to her dear friend. Even he couldn’t give himself — or any of them — one last second chance.

The fox, their illusionist, had fallen for illusions and mirages, visions of something better and a future filled with hope. Her life had ended as she fell to her death from the top of the Eiffel Tower, and with no miraculous to save her as it had dangled in Mayura’s tight grip, she had broken her skull as she hit the cold ground. She had been the first one they lost. Her miraculous Marinette had retrieved as she defeated Mayura, who was now missing her eyes. The peacock’s gleeful smile had turned to a horrified, soundless scream as she realised what was to come.

Never again would Mayura or Nathalie Sancoeur be able to fight or perform her duties as she once had.

Oh, and Chat Noir. Her sweet kitten. He’d fallen victim to his own mind, cruelly executed by those he once called family. Years of manipulation and conditioning to become the perfect tool for his so-called family to use, he’d been forced to try and kill her with his cataclysm — only, Agreste and Sancoeur hadn’t realised he would never kill his lady and instead forced his hand to touch himself. The last thing Marinette could remember of him were his teary eyes and the broken smile, along with a sorrowful whisper of “Farewell, M’Lady, make sure you avenge all of us. Make sure you bring them in front of cruel justice, or bring it upon them yourself. Don’t let anyone else die after me.”

As a miraculous could hardly be destroyed, she had picked up the silvery ring from the ashes and murmured her apologies to both her lost kitten and Plagg, who had once again had to watch his holder get their life stolen from them. She could barely come to terms with the deaths of her friends and comrades, but even considering how horrible it must have been to Plagg to lose holders times and times again was so much worse.

And for his death, she’d taken away the use of Gabriel Agreste’s hands. He would never be able to use them again, regardless of what anyone tried. She’d made sure of it.

But even though she's promised to fulfill her kitten's last wish, she’d failed him, as there had still been one more death after his. One death that she could not accept.

She was the Great Guardian of the Miraculouses. She was The Ladybug. She was meant to protect her team, she was meant to ensure they stayed safe. She couldn’t fail, she couldn’t lose a battle, let alone the war, because if she did, it would be immediate Game Over, not only to every single miraculous wielder,  but also everyone else that might be unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity of a miraculous that had fallen into the wrong hands. That was all there was to it. Even if everything else was lost, she would still need to be standing and ready to fight — and fight she had.

But, even though she’d technically won, why did it feel like she’d instead lost her everything? Why did she feel like she hadn’t done her job well enough?

All these young lives had ended way too soon, but there was nothing she could do about it. Marinette walked in the snow that was stained by unforgiving crimson, leaving behind dirtied footprints. Once upon a time she might have been disgusted and horrified at the sight of all this, but now she was merely empty. Numb.

Except that she wasn’t. There was one that made sure she couldn’t be numb, one whose death hit her the hardest.

She fell on her knees next to the corpse of someone who was dressed in red, black, yellow and green. A chuckle void of happiness escaped her lips. Even in death she couldn’t forget about how atrocious that suit was, how that someone looked like the personification of a traffic light.

At last, unable to hold herself with pride like the “victorious” Ladybug she was supposed to be should, she buried her face to the chest of her beloved and sobbed, the one person she hadn’t been prepared to lose. She’d long ago accepted she might lose her teammates, either to death or something else, but she had never come to think she might have to see a day when her love would be ripped away from her hands. Marinette had never wanted to bid adieu to any of them, but this one? This goodbye she never even got to say was devastating.

There were ways to bring him back — after all, that had already been done to him once — but Marinette couldn’t bring herself to even consider letting something corrupt her love so thoroughly again. Besides, she needed to get rid of the Lazarus pit once and for all with the aid of Tikki and Plagg, that she knew. She had promised it to the few who had suffered from it, she had promised it to all the kwamii. She couldn’t leave such thing in existence now that she had finally defeated the danger that had loomed over Paris and the entire world in a way for years now, thus preventing her from going and ridding the world of the curses left behind by the gods that became the kwamii a long time ago.

Her hands became stained by Damian’s warm blood (it was the only warmth she could feel in this endless, merciless cold) as she held him close and wept, though in a much different way than Gabriel Agreste’s or Nathalie Sancoeur’s. Their hands were stained in sin along with the blood of so many, hers was for trying to tell them goodbye.

She was bitter, she was angry, she was furious. She was vindictive.

But, as the one who was supposed to represent creation itself, she could do nothing about it. She would stay quiet and grieve in the depths of her soul where a part of her would always be missing, lost to the eternity of agony and time.

At least she had a body — a corpse — to bury. She hadn’t been given such luxury with some of the others. At least she could bid her last farewell to the one for whom she would have given up anything.

Marinette had the power to destroy and create anything she wanted, but there was no way she could bring her lost teammates and her lost love back to life. They wouldn’t be happy with her for destroying the balance of the world for it, and so she kept to her pain. She simply clutched Robin's — her beloved Damian's — hand in her own, trying to get the last bits of his warmth to herself, hoping for them to bring her comfort. She was nowhere near ready to let go.

Abeille — the former Queen Bee, the reformed Chloé — walked up to her and lifted her up even as she tried to resist and stay with her love. Marinette struggled as she tried to get back to the one she would have given her entire being to if he had asked, but when Chloé still wouldn’t let go, she surrendered to her fate and let herself go limp.

“Honeybug, please. You can’t do this to yourself. I know this is difficult and painful — it is that for me too —, but you need to remember we won. You won. You don’t need to suffer anymore”, she told Marinette with feigned confidence, but it was clear that in reality she had no idea what to say.

Marinette sneered and looked up and the dark, gloomy sky as snow flakes floated down and melted on her face. “I don’t… need to suffer anymore…? Beil, what are you talking about? I lost the most on this day. Officially, I won, but is it truly so? Look at what it brought me!”

She could no longer keep her composure as she screamed her heart out, unable to care about what potential witnesses thought of her. It didn’t matter, they didn’t matter. Marinette threw her hands to her sides and shook her head, her entire body trembling. “Yes, I won, but at what cost?! I lost everything and everyone I ever fought for!”

Abeille flinched back at her hysterical voice, but she couldn’t leave because she could see how devastated Marinette was, how horrified she was, yet how emptiness ate her alive from inside and made her numb. It was clear to her and Ryuko, Marinette’s closest living friends, that if they left now, there would be something bigger than a piece of her heart and soul that would break and shatter into a million fragments. They knew she would lose it.

And so, they both stayed by her side, throughout the numb and bitter apologies to her beloved’s father even as he tried to reassure her it wasn’t her fault (he did blame her, but he also knew she blamed herself enough for the both of them and even the rest of his family, so deep he knew her guilt was). They stood by her side as she brought the existence of the Lazarus pit to its end. They held her close as they buried their lost teammates and friends together, refusing any help from outside parties — after all, it was their solemn duty to let their dead to finally rest. They founded the new order of the Guardians hand in hand, dedicating one room to those miraculous wielders who had been on their side and lost their lives, and another to the one whose existence and life would have kept their Great Guardian who was too young for all of this from losing her sanity.

And, when the day came when both Abeille and Ryuko had to say goodbye to this world?

Well, that was the day Marinette Dupain-Cheng lost her mind and, bitter at the entire world and existence, started to consider bringing all of existence to an end so she could once more reunite with her friends and her love.

___

@ladysblackcat @daminett4life @tinyterror333 @annabellabrookes @7-sage-7 @theyellowfeverexperience @thethirdwheelfriend @lady-phoenix-of-tardis @kris-pines04 @daminette-december2019 @bluerosette23

[camillemontespan]

can we talk about georgiana, the duchess of devonshire?

So, a few months ago, I asked my followers who would be interested in following a side blog about historical figures. I’m a huge history geek and I thought that if I started a blog about the people who interest me, I could add it to my CV and also just get back into my interests. Quite a few of you were down for it and I was so pleased!

I’m yet to make the side blog but I’m posting this as a test to see if you guys like it. If you do, I will make the side blog. 

@jovialyouthmusic​ @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore​ @moonlightgem7​ @walkerswhiskeygirl​ @rainbowsinthestorm​ @saivilo​ @pug-bitch​ @katedrakeohd​ @gardeningourmet​ @mskaneko​  

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Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire (1757-1806)

I love history for its people. I am not interested in battles or treaties; I am drawn to the people behind these events. I like discovering what made them tick, that drove their decisions and what impact their lives have had on future generations. If you ask me to date a certain event, I can’t do it, but I can give you a spoken biography of historical figures that interest me. 

When I moved to Devon two years ago, I was nervous but also excited for one reason: I believed I would be able to visit Chatsworth House, the home of the Duchess of Devonshire. Imagine my irritation when I realised that Chatsworth is actually based in Derbyshire, which is hours away from Devon itself. My ideas of weekend jaunts to Chatsworth as I admired the architecure and strolled around the gardens were ruined by this realisation. 

You may have heard of Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire. A film of her life starring Keira Knightley was released in 2008 which first brought her to my attention. Now, I’m not a Knightley fan - ‘I’m Keira Knightley, look at my jawww,’- because I find her quite wooden, however I was pleasantly surprised when I watched her performance. She brought a human element to this historical figure who was known for her fashion sense, crippling debt and controversial marriage arrangement. 

Georgiana is also the ancestor of Princess Diana. Many people compare their tragic stories and can see a mirror image. Married to man they didn’t really love, later forced to watch their husbands fall in love with another woman and say nothing, all the while maintaining dignity and poise on the world stage. 

So, without further ado, let me introduce you to Georgiana. 

 If Georgiana was your friend, she would be the one who would come over with a bottle of wine, over which you would put the world to rights and drunkenly proclaim, ‘I love you sooooo much!’ to each other, before deciding to have a spontaneous night out where you dance on the bar and pound shots. She would visit you the next day – you would be horrifically hungover, she would be fresh as a daisy.

Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, was known for her charismatic and bubbly personality; her ability to make any outfit look beautiful (4 foot long peacock feather in her hair springs to mind) which made women everywhere try to emulate her - she literally set trends. She was also known for her passion for politics and her private life. 

On the surface, she had it all. But in reality, she didn’t. Underneath this larger than life facade was a tragic figure. 

For one thing,  Georgiana was addicted to gambling and racked up an eye watering debt. She borrowed money from her friends but never repaid them. Her mother warned her to be careful but to no avail.  Her mother also had a gambling problem and wasted money while playing faro. She didn’t want her daughter to continue her mistakes. Georgiana hid her debts from her husband for as long as she could, but eventually she had to tell the Duke, who paid off her debts and never mentioned it again. 

She had been expecting to get a bollocking but he stayed silent. To be honest, this made it worse. It’s like being told by your mum that she’s ‘disappointed’ in you, when you’d prefer her to shout at you for a few minutes and then forgive you. She struggled with gambling for years.

Second, and most importantly, her marriage was an unspoken controversy.  This is the thing that makes Georgiana an incredible character to study. I read her story and I just couldn’t work it out in my head - why would you put up with this? But then, you have to remember that divorce wasn’t an option for women in those days. Women were property. They were commodities. Leaving a marriage because your husband preferred another woman was not an option. 

It was the worst kept secret in society. Everyone knew that her best friend, Elizabeth ‘Bess’ Foster, lived with them and that Bess was her husband’s mistress. Georgiana had asked for Bess to live with them after she discovered that Bess’ sons had been taken away from her and she was living in awful circumstances. Georgiana was too good, too kind – and Bess took advantage.  Trust me, Bess is the villain in this story, no matter how often she tried to set her story straight. Diary accounts from Georgiana’s friends show that nobody trusted her. They could see her for what she was -a schemer, a leech. But Georgiana couldn’t. 

Bess stayed at Chatsworth and conducted a secret affair with her husband, which soon became public knowledge. Did Georgiana say anything? No. She let it carry on under her roof, without saying a word. In the film, she stands up for herself which is how it should have played out. But according to Amanda Foreman, the historian and writer of the book, this didn’t happen. Georgiana kept silent. 

 Although I wish I could shake her and tell her she deserves so much better, in a way I feel she shows a huge strength of character to put up with that. She continued her daily routine with dignity and carried on being a queen. 

 Now, this is when things get interesting and draws in another historical figure who I feel isn’t really known? At least, I didn’t know him, all I knew was that there are tea bags named after him. 

 The rumour is that she later fell in love with Charles Grey, a Whig politician  (later Prime Minister - I KNOW RIGHT? YOU GO GEORGIANA!) who had dreams of a bright, new world where all men had the vote. They were like minded and they could talk about these dreams together.  I adore how political Georgiana was and that she spoke publicly about her political associations in a time when women were expected to stay at home and mind their business. She actually brought about the trend of canvassing, where you go out into the streets and campaign for a party.  Having Georgiana on side meant the Whigs became popular quickly  - if anything, she became their figurehead. Anyway, I digress, but let me just say that she has so much depth. She is genuinely interesting.  

Right, Charles Grey. 

They had an affair and she became pregnant with his child. In short, she asked the Duke if she could leave him and be with Grey. After all, he was fucking her best friend and not giving a shit about her feelings. But, of course, the Duke refused. Hypocrite, yes. But the time period was different and he couldn’t risk the humiliation of being deserted by his wife – nor could she. Women who left their families were ravaged by society. She gave birth to Grey’s daughter, Eliza, in secret and the baby was raised by his family as Grey’s niece.  Again, that is a testament to her character. I’m sure many women would have felt broken after that. But she wasn’t – she visited Eliza frequently (who, when she grew up, named her daughter Georgiana after her mother. I think she knew by then) and she continued to partake in social engagements. 

What I love about her, aside from her strength, is how she challenges the stereotype of women of that time. In fact, she was way beyond her time. She was the one who started the trend for getting outside in the streets and campaigning for the Whigs. She was a WOMAN who was out in the streets campaigning, despite not even having a vote or even thinking her gender would one day have one, and she was so much more than just fashion and money. She was an intelligent badass who cared about how the country was run. She didn’t let gender stereotypes and restrictions hold her back. I love how no matter how shit her home life was, she didn’t let that bring her down. If anything, politics was her escape. It was where she could feel valued. She made friends with the Whigs, such as Charles Fox, and they wanted to hear her opinion. They needed her on their side because her opinion mattered. She mattered.

She was ahead of her time. She had a hard home life but she carried on, trying to make a difference and prove her worth. Georgiana is my home girl and I will stand up for her because no one else did.

I know this wasn’t a coherent piece.  It was all over the place, right? But that’s what history does to me. I get excited. If I’m talking to you about Georgina, my hands will be all over the place and my voice will be rising in volume because I get so passionate about the subject. I wrote essays at uni for my history degree and they were so proper, just the way university dictates you write.  All I wanted to write was ‘read how amazing this person is! Give me an A for enthusiasm!’ I once got a lower mark for an essay because I made the mistake of being too enthusiastic, writing a really in-depth profile on the historical figure, but forgot to answer the question… My tutor said he could tell I really enjoyed writing it but I didn’t actually fulfill the point of the essay. It wasn’t a harsh criticism - he was happy I enjoyed writing it but obviously, couldn’t grade me a high mark. 

But that’s how I approach history. I could sit here and try to write something proper but I think that is one reason why history is often a disliked subject. It CAN be boring if taught badly. 

I remember my history teacher in high school, Mr Pia, who was the best teacher I’ve ever had. He scared all the young students because he was so serious and never smiled and I tell you, I was scared when I found out he would be teaching me when I was in my final year. But, when I joined his class, he surprised us in a lesson about Austria. He played Mozart and said, ‘I thought I would try to evoke the right atmosphere!’

I fell in love with his teaching then and there.

THAT is what makes history a good subject. You need someone passionate, who looks at it differently. That’s how I would like to approach it. It may not be for some people but it works for me. 

If Georgiana has peaked your interest, you can read the biography by Amanda Foreman which is incredible. I couldn’t put it down. Even give the film a go - Ralph Fiennes plays the Duke and Dominic Cooper (babe) is Charles Grey. It’s on Netflix. Spend your Sunday watching it. It’s a great adaptation. 

[miragerules]

With theaters unfortunately shut down, and me sadly being laid off because Oregon has a shelter in place order it's given me a lot of time to play video games as well as think about the best films of each decade, and the who I believe are the current directors of all time. I am going to start with who are believe are the current 15 best directors of all time.

15. Bong Joon Ho: I have not seen all of Bong Joon Ho films only seen Snowpiercer, The Host, Memories of Murder, and Parasite with Snowpiercer being his best film.

14. David Lynch: David Lynch is probably the most visionary and unique director on this list. It has not paid off for Lynch all the time, but all his films and series are certainly memorable. I have seen Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Dune, Twin Peaks, Dune, Lost Highway, and Mulholland Drive with Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive being is best films. Even though Lynch has not directed a full-length feature film since I think 2006's Inland Empire Lynch is still one of the best directors of all time.

13. Clint Eastwood: Although this biographical themed obsession Eastwood had been on this past decade with good, but flawed films in Richard Jewell, The 1517 to Paris, American Sniper, and J. Edgar among others it does not take away from Clint Eastwood's nearly fifty years of directing with some of his classics being Unforgiven, Mystic River, The Outlaw Josey Wales, A Perfect World, and Letters from Iwo Jima to name a few.

12. David Fincher: I could say David Fincher is the best suspense thriller director, but that would be disrespecting the one and only Alfred Hitchcock, so I will that Fincher is the Hitchcock of our time with his most known film being Fight Club, but not his best film. That would go to Gone Girl, The Game, and Se7en. Then here is the elephant in the room by the name of Alien 3. Alien 3 had its problems in production and especially with studio interference by FOX in not having faith in the young up and coming director, which hurt the film, but by no means does that make Alien 3 a bad film. Alien 3 had good acting by Charles S. Dutton, Charles Dance, Sigourney Weaver, and the rest of the pretty unknown cast. The score by Elliot Goldenthal is riveting, and one of the best scores in the Alien franchise if not the best. William Gibson original screenplay would have been the best route to go with the film, and there were a lot of hands on the script for Alien 3 with ultimately the writing brainstormed, poorly put together, and written by producers Walter Hill and David Giler. The screenplay was definitely flawed, but not bad with a decent story and good ending to Ripley’s journey that was ruined by the truly terrible Alien Resurrection. Overall, I say Alien 3 is the third best Alien film not as good as Alien or Aliens, but not as bad as the rest of the Alien films or the Alien vs Predator films.

11. Zhang Yimou: Sadly, I have not had a chance to see some of Zhang's older films like Not One Less, Raise the Red Lantern, and especially To Live, which some have said is one of Zhang's best films. I have seen all Zhang's films since the new millennium with films that include Hero, Shadow, Under the Hawthorn Tree, House of the Flying Daggers, Coming Home, Curse of the Golden Flower, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, Happy Times, The Flowers of War, A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop, and The Great Wall. Zhang is a master of using aesthetics whether it be the story, lighting, or choreography of his action sequences. The Great War is easily Zhang's worst film, and it is not a terrible film, and not for the reasons you might be thinking. I know when The Great Wall was coming out and came out a certain group of so called up set people were outrage that a fantasy film had a some white characters in the film and Zhang and the writers were using the white savior trope in the film, but if you actually watch the film that was not what happen or why The Great Wall was a mediocre film. It was because of the at best average CGI, poor writing, and uninspired action sequences. As for Zhang's best films they are Hero, Curse of the Golden Flower, Happy Times, and The House of the Flying Daggers. Yes, Zhang Yimou is best known for his historical films with simply masterfully choreographed action sequences I definitely recommend you give some of his smaller films like Happy Times and Coming Home a chance.

10. Ridley Scott: Although some of Scott's latest films like Robin Hood, Prometheus, All the Money in the World, and Exodus: Gods and Kings have not lived up to the directors reputation Ridley Scott will still go down as one of the best directors of all time by directing some of the best films of all time. I would also recommend Kingdom of Heaven. It is one of Scott's best film that was underrated by critics and the general population.

9. Michael Mann: Like Scott above Michael Mann's most recent films in Blackhat, Public Enemies, and Miami Vice have not lived up to the reputation Mann has earned as a director or his vision and style as a writer and director. Mann as not directed a lot of films and it is debatable what his best film is between The Insider, Heat, Thief, and The Last of the Mohicans. For me it is Heat.

8. Denis Villeneuve: Denis Villeneuve has only been directing since 1998, but has already made it into the top 10 of this list, and it is for a reason. Villeneuve is helped to craft some of the most riveting and compelling stories in films this past decade that was also greatly impacted by Villeneuve’s masterful use of cinematography creating an atmosphere in his films with Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, and Sicaro being masterpieces and three of the best films this past decade. I am really looking forward to his vision of Dune.

7. Hayao Miyazaki: Miyazaki is by far the most mainstream and acclaimed director of anime films from Japan, and for good reason. Hayao Miyazaki is a masterful writer and director who stands by his belief of caring for the environment, being anti-war, and love. Speaking out on his beliefs regulating not caring if it offends some of his fans or his own government. His beliefs play a heavy influence in his films, which I think make is unique visions all the better for that. In my view Miyazaki’s best film is Princess Mononoke. 1999 was a terrible year for me on many levels and Princess Mononoke just blew my mind and help to lift my spirits and my will to go on. No other Hayao Miyazaki film has come close to affecting me that way.

6. Terrance Malick: Terrance Malick has been directing films for directing films for 47 years, but has only directed ten films in that time with 1973’s Badlands. I think the reason is while other directors like Uwe Boll, Michael Bay, and Paul W.S. Anderson will just make films no matter the quality of the film Terrance Malick is determined that his artistry be perfect, and it shows in his film. Malick’s determination to perfection shows in his true mastery of cinematography and his use of nature and the environment to enhance the story and isolate they characters. His perfectionism shows in all his films, and while Malick’s films may not always land on perfection, but his films always leave a mark on the viewer. I consider Terrance Malick’s best film to be 1998’s The Thin Red Line, and a far better film than Saving Private Ryan that came out earlier that year.

5. Christopher Nolan: We have finally reached the top 5 of what I consider to be the current best directors of all time with number five being Christopher Nolan. Nolan is number five on this list, and is the best director alive today. There are better directors on this list, but they all have passed away. Christopher Nolan is known for his love of the theatrical experience, and the technical side of filmmaking. Christopher Nolan along with his brother Jonathan Nolan and other writers to craft unique and captivation stories and their use of memories, time, space, dreams, perspective, and war in each of film of films. Nolan has also directed has put his stamp on Batman and the comic book film genre by directing the Dark Knight Trilogy that is the best superhero/comic book trilogy. As for what is Christopher Nolan’s best film, it is too hard for me to choose between Prestige, The Dark Knight, and Dunkirk.

4. Alfred Hitchcock: Alfred Hitchcock is and as far I am concerned will go down as the best suspense thriller director of all time. Hell, the term Hitchcockian was named after the type of films he wrote and directed. It wasn’t just the huge impact Hitchcock had on the suspense, thriller, and horror genre’s, it was Hitchcocks technical and writing imfluence that has had a lasting impact on in film and popular culture. Alfred Hitchcock’s basically created a new filmmaking style using camera’s for perspective many times putting making the viewer the voyeur in his films to brilliantly adding to the suspense to his films. Hitchcock along his early writers created for better or worse the plot device called the MacGuffin that has a tremendous influence today in filmmaking that is used too much in not correctly. In my view Alfred Hitchcocks best films are North by Northwest, Rear Window, and Strangers on a Train.

3. Sergio Leone: The legendary director Akira Kurosawa who had a huge influence on Sergio Leone’s filmmaking, and in doing so Sergio Leone created his own impact on filmmaking creating the “spaghetti western” with his script writing long sprawling epics, and the use of long sweeping shots and extreme close ups. While Leone did not direct a lot of films, he did direct perhaps the two best unofficial trilogies of all time in No Name trilogy and the Once Upon A Time trilogy. All six films could easily fit into the top 50 films of all time and two of them in the top 20 films of all time. While both Clint Eastwood and composer Ennio Morricone were in the business of filmmaking Sergio Leone should get credit for lunching both to super stardom of the film industry in the 1960’s.

2. Stanley Kubrick: Whether it be Crime drama, Science Fiction, Epics, War, or Comedy Kubrick has had a lasting influence on virtually every genre. Like Terrance Malick, Stanley Kubrick had a different style with his filmmaking process saying his scripts were never really finished before his film started filming so he could be willing to adapt during filming, his relentless and sometimes endless scene takes sometimes making his actors shoot scenes dozens of times trying to get what he view as the perfect shot. Some film historians would call Stanley Kubrick the most influential filmmaker in history with in my view Paths of Glory, Dr. Strangelove, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

1. Akira Kurosawa: It was a little hard to choose between Stanley Kubrick, Sergio Leone, and Kurosawa, and in my view the most influential, and all-around best director of all time is Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa has had so much influence on cinema in story, style and technique throughout the years influencing directors like George Lucas, Sergio Leone, Quinton Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Stanley Kubrick, and countless others. Akira Kurosawa introduced the world two different story styles/tropes in with the “Team building” trope, and the perspective or Rashomon style that can be seen in the Dirty Dozen films, Star Wars films, Ocean 11 films, Hero, Knives out, and countless other films as well as just about every part of popular culture. Akira Kurosawa as faced some criticism over his career with one that I can understand was his filmmaking during WWII. Like many filmmakers throughout the world in the late 1930’s and through the 1940’s they were pushed, paid, and sometimes forced to make propaganda films for the citizens of their countries. Akira Kurosawa was one of those directors, and I can understand the criticism of Kurosawa’s first films as a director in the early 1940’s. Another criticism that is completely unfounded and is laughable was by the French new wave movement in the 1950’s with many of the film makers saying Kurosawa was elitist and his films were not Japanese enough. Really men Frenchman from a former colonial power telling a Japanese filmmaker that his films were Japanese enough. That would be me as a white man like telling Spike Lee that his films aren’t black enough or Zhang Yimou that his films aren’t Chinese enough. Simple that is unfounded and just wrong. Even with some small legitimate criticism of Akira Kurosawa’s life and work it does not take away from his brilliance as a filmmaker crafting some of the best films made influencing countless others. As for Kurosawa’s best film that is hard, but even though I love his sprawling historical masterpieces in Yojimbo, Seven Samurai, Ran, Rashomon in my view it is one of Kurosawa’s smaller films that is the director’s best film. That would be 1952’s moving and poignant drama Ikiru.

--------------------------------

Honorable mentions that I briefly considered for this list: David Lean, Steven Spielberg, John Ford, Charlie Chaplin, Sergey Eisenstein, Ingmar Bergman, and Billy Wilder to name a few. I have seen very few films from the silent film era.

[ayakashiramblings]

Dawn and Twilight’s Social Media Accounts

Kuya

@NevermoreButSnore.

1230 followers.

Yes, I copied Edgar Allan Poe. Yes, I’m not sorry about the rhyme. Or calling him out. 

Not that he really cares.

Insists that he is a headcanon creator on Twitter 

Everyone who follows him knows that he is lying. 

If we really had to classify him as a writer, it would one who posts those way-too-accurate posts about writers complaining about writing. 

Like the notebook hoarding one. Not that anyone here in the fandom is guilty of that, haha... haha... ha.

Ironically is one of the more popular ones out of the whole group. 

His flat responses and laziness are way too prominent to NOT be noticed. 

If you actually tentatively sneak into his DMs though, for writing tips, he will patiently listen and... rather bluntly advise you. 

It’s still advice though and is always the type to check out and reblog any short fanfics.

It just has to be weird, sporadic hours because he is the type to fall asleep with the phone on his face. 

Koga Kitamikado

1230 followers.

@CapitalKayKay

Listen, there is a reason why a lot of successful businesses chose Instagram as their social media so Koga is no exception. 

What makes his account stand out, as you can see from his rather cheeky username, is that he is willing to be an open book. 

So he isn’t constantly shoving down any products he is sponsoring or whatever piece he is endorsing. 

It’s more of genuinely wanting to hang out and explore what the world has to offer. 

Whenever he posts a picture of the gang together, he’s the one tagging all of them, even the ones with hard usernames.

And there’s always a nice comment thanking whoever hosted the fun time or being appreciative of the area and the locals.

It helps that he has a sense of humour so the memes are always just the right amount of teasing but nothing too bad that will deter potential clients.

Because of his down-to-earth nature, he reels everyone in.

Uses the space to invite everyone following him on any celebration/casual outing.

The thing is... he has a lot of followers.

So... good luck.

Aoi

1150 followers.

@DeredArtTooTsun

Look, even he knows he is a Tsundere. It’s a small victory getting him to acknowledge that, let alone use it to brand himself here.

But god, he’s the man I’m most jealous of on Tumblr.

PERFECT BULLET JOURNALS AND SKETCHES.

Got the spreads that literally define ‘aesthetic’, a perfect lineup of art materials even with pencils that have their numbers faded, and somehow, the emotions can pass through the paper and screen.

Even does tutorials on perspectives, positions with cute annotations. Just don’t praise them for being adorable though and focus on improving your skills, dummy.

Ironically though, it’s his mindless vents that get the most number of notes.

It helps that the pics include him, a very cute... I mean... manly boy screaming at very, very hot men.

A bit baffled but whatever it takes to get commissions. 

That’s right, he takes them. At least there is a back-up option should the restaurant ever go out of business. 

Spoiler Alert: Still doesn’t get paid as much. People, have you seen the number of talented artists here? Aoi might be in the rankings but it’s still hard attracting business.

Support your fandom artists, everyone!

Ginnojo

1000 followers. Just nice.

Ginnojoz

Poor grandpa didn’t intend to put that extra ‘z’ letter, it was a typo because scales don’t get along with haptic touch. 

And unfortunately, doesn’t understand how to change it. 

Once, he was huge on Vine before it died. The end of an era that he has to witness again. RIP.

Gin-Gin, it is RIGHT. THERE.

Expect to find his super short self-defence videos and Book Club Readings on YouTube.

Girls actually appreciate his instructions and attempts to provide help even if they are alone. 

He did try to respond to the nice ones and actually succeeds. 

It’s always easier getting to know the language of women when you don’t really see/touch them.

A deep baritone is perfect for some sexy excerpt of a historical novel... 

Until he corrects the setting.

In fact, he sometimes rage-quits and rewrites it. 

Unlike Kuya, him doing those established ideas actually catches on. 

Yura and Gaku

1500 followers.

MelodyandTheBeat. 

... Tik-tokers. Tik-Tok people? 

WTH do you call them?

As you can see, they are the most popular since it’s combined stardom.

Look, their covers and music mixes are beautiful.

They always have their own version that somehow combines traditional Japanese music... with k-pop.

And of course, food porn. 

Just be grateful there isn’t that awful squelching sound you hear when you consume jelly or the breaking of chilli seeds. 

Listen, I usually separate them because it’s never nice to be grouped as having the same activity as your twin. 

But in this case, being both equally beautiful AND talented sells their uploads. 

Even the cringy ones made because Yura is such a Luddite. 

Like just turning his head and being amazed his hair can turn so many colours, being impressed with each tilt until he gets to a black shade. 

Suddenly hurls the phone away. Gee, wonder why? Guess black isn’t the new... black for him?

Gaku sometimes even introduces new filters he created based on Yura’s random requests that strangely get circulated on the site. 

Oji

550 followers all know Oji-Sanz

Unlike Ginnojo, he deliberately adds the ‘z’ letter to sound cool.

You wanna know what’s worse? 

He actually uses Facebook. 

Aoi decides to give up on him. Nobody blames the poor student.

It’s apparently some old form of social media? Never used it, no sirree. 

Always changing his relationship status but at the end of the day, he’s single and ready... 

To post about all the lovely ladies destined to enter his restaurant. 

He thinks it’s great publicity. 

It really isn’t but one good thing about Oji is he includes EVERYONE.

This man respects his customers and always helps advertise their wares, especially if their connections lead to more resources. 

And less grocery shopping on his part.

Does post the recipes he and Aoi created but will never use because the Milk Hall had a certain style to follow.

Officially makes Aoi his son... on Facebook at least. 

Aoi now tolerates the account. 

Barely. 

Toichiro Yuri

WhatheMeSay has 1231 followers! 

In your face @CapitalKayKay and @NevermorebutSnore!!

You know, I’m so glad that there aren’t any users with those names because I’d be so scared of accidentally tagging them.

Also, geddit? Because... What the fox say? 

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding... yeah, I’ll stop.

Pinterest Guy. And actually does spend on his ‘hobby’ to show off to everyone.

It does boost you and your father’s sales so there is nothing to complain about. 

His boards are always alliterated just to sound super catchy and it works so long as he gets the right emoji. 

Kabuki plays better be promoted or else.

Filled with candid pictures of his victims all taken at different angles you didn’t know were possible and in varying degrees of hilariously misunderstood positions.

He even supplies a donation link, heavily leveraged by his followers, since there are incentives tied to it like early access.

A bit suspicious the photos look like cropped out parts from Koga’s posts and some of the text resembles Kuya’s... er... wisdom?

He takes an unholy amount of selfies when he thinks no one is looking and so they are always surprised upon finding them on the Selfie Board. 

There is a locked board that no one can access, even his followers who are his comrades in real life. 

It’s actually just one picture in there. 

It’s you smiling and giggling at a joke of his. Not even you know it’s been taken. Guess he is as soft as his fur, eh? He better come out soon or else.

Kuro

Kuroruohtumbling

Ginnojo is unfortunately just old enough to have grown up with Scooby-Doo to understand the reference.

Snapchat, like a snapping snake! Hiss!

Unironically loves the puppy face.

Ok, but the glimpses of his stunts help show snippets of the circus life. 

He and his whole troupe family will even don costumes best suited for certain filters.

Sometimes ropes in Ginnojo... and by sometimes, I mean enough for everyone to start wondering if the stoic man is part of the act. 

To be fair, he randomly hugs people and ranks them here.

You, of course, were number 1. 

Now, if only he didn’t use the bloody song to announce it but you forgive him.

Maybe even risks revealing his ayakashi form before deleting the message to you.

Loves making international fans and learning various languages through each post, sort of like flashcards but animated and more fun!

And with 1200 followers, he might become a polyglot like Koga.

Shizuki 

Everyone bans him from creating one. 

Because they know the power of his roasts is too great. 

Little do they know he goes undercover. 

Underground.

And under their noses.

That’s right. His rant town on... MySpace. 

Unapologetically uses a good chunk of his salary from serving the House of Yuri just to get nifty themes that help with the whole burning process. 

Look, there’s a reason he and Oji are friends. 

This is why. 

Their taste in women seems fine but we really have got to do something about their affinity towards DEAD PLACES.

To be fair, he made the whole thing drunk but that doesn’t mean he should maintain it SOBER.

He just feels that it is a waste of space if he doesn’t utilize it. 

And it also becomes kind of cathartic. From the intrusive hugs to his master and Sir Gaku irking each other to no end, he needs it. 

Zero followers... but only because it’s super private. 

It becomes 1 the moment you jokingly create an account. 

[imagethat]

Kitsune | Vergil x Reader

Small story/drabble where the reader is a fox demon. Vergil x Reader.

(Writers note: Writing for Vergil is a bit of a challenge for me because I feel like Vergil is the kind of person who admires someone for their skill then gets to know them and fall in love. So my stories for Vergil are really long. I'm working on improving my writing, and if anyone has any tips or ideas for Vergil/writing Vergil better they'd be greatly appreciated!)

Fox demons are said to be cunning and elusive spirits. With playful intentions, even at the expense of others well being. You were no different. Red Grave was a bastion of unfortunate souls, all for you to toy with. You could visit them in their dreams, manipulate reality to their poor unfortunate brains. Trickery is what gave you power, it fed your abilities and each night you were growing stronger. As the disappearance number started to reach the double digits our favorite devil hunters took notice of your presence. Trish was the first to realize a tricky fox was running amuck through the town, simply because she herself was a full demon and she had a special connection to the pits of hell. Soon after though, Dante, Vergil, and Nero followed behind her. Only Trish knew of your true form though, while you still remained a mystery to the other three. A monsterous foe lurking in the cover of night. Morrision did his best to get information on you but the poor guy came up empty handed. It make you laugh. Each night your lavish dreams promising Eden lured in more souls every one of them coming to the same horrible realization that there was no leaving once you entered. This dream was a snare, a never ending labyrinth that consumed all. Dante was foolish enough to take the bait though. Vergil on the other hand saw the clear warning signs, and offered a plan of luring you out of your realm. They came to a consensus on that plan and thus it began. Always one step ahead, you thwarted whatever plan they came up with. If you were honest, you were starting to grow incredibly bored. So you decide to have some fun of your own. The human world made you weaker to a certain extent and that thought excited you. Never had you left your realm, your parents warning you against it when you were young. But above all, they warned you to never fall in love with someone from outside your realm. You were fine with that rule, it never bothered your cold coloused heart. Foxes carry a lot of karma you see, and for every life you've ruined. Every person you've tormented. That energy is said to come back at you ten times as hard. Many from your realm used that as reasoning for being so manipulative. See, karma can't cut you down if you slay it first. You sat perched on a tree branch, one leg pulled to your chest as you waited. In the human world your presence would be noticeable, uncloaked from your realm. Your tail flicked back and forth, ears perked. Listening for a sign of your soon to be 'captors'. A small smirk rose to your face as you heard an all but annoying tune getting ever closer. It was the Devil May Cry van. How Nico managed to jump it was beyond you. She tried her best to hit you but you were faster, aiming a precise strike to the middle of the van to catapult it into the earth. You could hear very loud cursing from both the vans passengers as you returned to your sitting position, in the same exact spot to tease them. "How nice of you to join me. The moon is lovely tonight." You hummed as a white haired punk jumped out of the passenger's seat. He shot at you and you just tilted your head to the side, bullet missing you by centimeters. "Now please don't be so rude, let's talk this out. Please~" You purred while making a soft pout. "Hell no! I've got a wage to earn." Nero yelled, thrusting his grappling hook at you. You allowed it to grab you, only so you'd be brought in close enough to trip him. He made a failed attempt to kick you from his spot on the ground. "God, I'm bored already." You hissed in an annoyed tone. "You're too predictable! Send someone interesting next time!" You demanded as a portal opened behind you. Nero placed both of his hands over his ears, trying to keep the soft delicate tunes from your realm out of his head. He yelled something at your back but you paid him no mind as you returned home. Nico quickly got out of the van after she was sure you were gone only to find Nero passed out. "Oh fuck no way!" She exclaimed while quickly kneeling besides nero. "Nero! Nero!!" She yelled, trying to wake him but he was like a sandbag in her arms. Nero was promptly returned to Devil May Cry. Nico doing her best to find any notes about your breed of demon while Lady tucked Nero in on the couch. Vergil seemed… vexed to say the least. He wouldn't admit it but he cared for his son. Dante tapped his finger on his desk impatiently. "Well, did it say anything to you?" Dante questioned, trying is best to figure out what happened. "Send someone interesting was all I caught. I was in the van so all I could really hear was the jukebox!" She exclaimed from her pile of papers. She didn't know how truly lucky she was. "Allow me to go next time." Vergil said, finally speaking up. "Let me go with you then." Trish added and Vergil nodded no. "We don't need two of us going down at once, if it should manage to best me…" Vergil replied. He had a point.

The next night, Vergil found himself in the same park Nero had fought you in. The ground still hadn't recovered from Nico's van tracks. The sky was clouded. The wind rustling through the trees, causing an eerie sound to creak from them. Every now and then, when a gust of wind came by, you'd shake a tree. Vergil couldn't be sure if it was you, but kept his composure. After an hour of toying with the environment with no avail to Vergil's mental state you decide he was fit for your presence. Worthy of having company with you. All at once the forest became a never ending expanse even though that shouldn't be possible. The park was in the middle of a dense city. Animals out of sight ran through the tall grass. The trees seemed to be ever shifting as you emerged from them. "What's your name?" You asked the tall white haired man. He didn't respond, but did not make a move to get into the proper stance to defend himself. Curious. "You know, I only do this to survive. I never asked to be born the way I was." You said, expressing sadness through your motions and eyes. "I know you've been consuming far more than you need to." He finally spoke. His voice surprised you, it wasn't what you expected him to sound like. Nonetheless, you continued on with your charades. "Oh well that is true, but to be weak is such a pitiful thing. Would you not agree?" You mused curiously, having already peaked into his mind. He seemed to contemplate his answer for a good deal of time before speaking. "That you are right, holding power feels good. But what is power without something to protect? In your endless pursuit, you will never feel satisfaction for you have no measure of what true strength is." He commented of your mentality. For some reason, it bothered you deeply. "You do not know what I seek or who I am to become." You snarled. He grimaced at your aggressive response. That's when the fighting began. If you weren't so angry, you would've been impressed with his skill. But your might was just as tempered and well trained. Through the battle, scattered back and forth conversation happened. "This world is mine! It shall taste of your blood! Feed on your innermost fears!" You yelled while swinging your blade. Vergil only ever seemed to parry your attacks. "I will not falter. Nor will I yield." A well timed attack from the calm man landed you off balance, causing you to retreat momentarily. "If you know not of what you search for, allow me to offer you something to strive for." He said, to which you bared your teeth at. Beginning your relentless assault again. "Quiet! You are part mortal! You are beneath me!" You demanded. He struck your side, you barely had time to realize it had happened. His incision was precise and wasn't deep enough to kill you, unless you left it untreated. "How? What are you mortal!" You demanded. You should've been untouchable in this world. He cleaned off his blade before sliding it into its case. "Your anger blinds you. What is it you fear that drives you to such extremes?" He questioned. "Fear of the unknown? Fear of failure?" He continued to question, taking slow steps towards you. You hissed loudly, hand cusping your side. "Leave! Never step foot here again!" You yelled before retreating into the grass. You didn't make it far, knees weak as you stumbled along. Still losing blood. Vergil's mental state was returned to normality as the trees faded and the familiar cityscape emerged before his eyes. He saw himself in you, but knew you would no longer bother Red Grave. By morning, all the people who had gone missing were returned. That included Nero, who woke up with the sun rising. Dante questioned his brother about what happened, but Vergil only let out sparse details.

Your breathing was ragged. Slow and shallow as you did your best to patch your wound. Never much of a medic since your wounds were always limited. You followed your familiar trail back to your home. It was grand and traditional. As you entered through the front door and staggered to your bed you collapsed onto the floor in the entryway. "Fate has found me, I wonder if my brothers and sisters will sing of this tale. Of how childish mothers eldest was. How my emotions got the best of me and made me vulnerable." You mused with a broken voice as you faded in and out of consciousness. You felt like you could hear them laughing at you. You came to a week later, sunlight leaking in through the windows. You were…. In your room? Maybe I am now trapped here, to feed another demon you thought as you slowly rose up onto your elbows. It felt like something one of your conniving siblings would do. Gingerly, you rested a hand on your side. Amazed to find it was completely covered with gauze. A kind you'd only find in the human world. Carefully you got onto your feet, warily searching the house while holding a blade close to your chest. The last place you check was your backside porch, which faced the gardens. You made a face of disgust as you found the white haired man sitting there, watching the cherry blossom trees sway in the wind. "What are you doing here? I told you never to return!" You said, clearly upset by his presence in your home. "Not feeling appreciative are we? I suppose I wouldn't be any kinder to someone who bested me in battle either." He remarked. Your skin boiled. "How long have you been here?" You demanded, feeling disturbed by knowing he had found your house so easily. "A week" he replied. "And what of your companions?" You questioned. "They know nothing." His answer made you feel a little better. You bit your lip before opening the door. "Come in." You begrudgingly said. Vergil got up and followed you to a library, stocked high with books. You sat him at a little table in the corner and told him to wait while you fetched some tea and snacks. You were too weak to fight, and he did save you after all. All you wanted to do at this point was convince him to leave. He accepted your offer for tea before complimenting you on the impressive amount of books you had. You replied with a sour thanks before taking your seat. Carefully, you traced the rim of your tea cup, trying to figure out how the hell you'll convince him to leave. "Your world is losing its strength." Vergil spoke out loud. "Your point?" You asked, unamused by his comment. "Well, if this world is to cave in on itself, I know of a place you could stay." He offered. Even the mere thought of it offended you. "I respect your…" You had to force out your next words. "Kindness, but I don't need help. Not from you. If this world is to falter, then so be it. I would die for it before dishonoring my lineage." You said, a certain air of dignity clinging to the words you spoke. He seemed displeased with your answer. "I'm surprised you would so willingly fall into deaths hands." He mused before taking a sip of his tea. "What does it matter to you?" You questioned, actually curious what the answer would be. "It doesn't." You were disappointed by his reply. "You can fib if you'd like, but if it didn't matter then why come here at all? Why patch my wounds? Or wait for me to awaken?" You questioned him more. He placed his teacup down. "If I may be honest, I'm bored myself. Your cunning ways has my interest piqued. Beyond that, I think you would make a great addition to Devil May Cry." He admitted. You were in no place to make demands. "If I returned with you, would you promise to provide me with the energy needed to sustain this world?" You asked. He nodded softly, but that wasn't enough reassurance. "Promise me my world will be safe…. This place… it means more to me than my own life. It has fostered and raised every generation of my family, my father left it to me. I will not see it perish." You said, your head tilted up slightly. You have always been proud and dignified. As the heir to a family should be. It was how you were raised. "I can assure you, you will be provided with enough energy to keep this world alive. But no more than needed." He said, his gaze piercing yours. He already knew well of your ways and desires. But you were both keepers of your word. "Then I will return with you." You finally gave in. He was satisfied with that, and after that you both made your way to Devil May Cry. You're lucky Nero isn't there when you arrive. It saves some hassle as you and Vergil explain the specifics of the situation to Dante. In true fashion, he seems unbothered by your presence. Trusting his brother to know who's good and who's not. That was the start of your devil hunting days. It's possible your family had hid it from you, that your kind held a deep seated grudge against humans, but ensnaring and killing demons provided you with the same energy as humans did. Your power began to rise again, but only time would tell if you returned to your tricky ways.

[stevensavage]

Steve's Writing Advice 8/7/2018

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

I’ve been giving a lot of advice lately on writing, as well as processing some of my most recent experiences. So what I decided to do is write down my basic advice on what to do. I’m keeping it positive, and I hope to update it over time.

What To Write

Obviously you should write what you like, but you may want to target to a market.

There is almost inevitably a market for something you’ll want to write, but the question is how many sales you want to make (and if you cary).

There are inevitably other authors to learn from and study.

How To Write

It’s likely if you want to write you already know how. It’s just a matter of getting it into professional shape – or acceptable shape.

There are a lot of books on writing efficiently and effectively. Chris Fox’s books are very well regarded.

When possible join a writer’s group, meetup, or team to help you out.

There’s nothing like practicing, so keep writing!

Editing

Have an editor. Period. Pay them or reimburse them somehow.

Having beta and pre-readers helps, but an editor is hard to replace (though you may find one with betas and pre-readers)

Book Covers

A book cover is a great sales tool, and makes a real difference in if people buy it.

Different genres and audiences have different cover expectations.

There are various sites and tools that will help you make covers.

You can also get premade covers from several sources like www.goonwrite.com.

For major, important works you want a professional-level cover.

You can learn to do your own covers, but it will take effort if you don’t have much graphic experience. There are online tutorials.

Book Covers – Doing it yourself

You can do book covers yourself, as noted, but it takes time and effort to learn.

You can get good paid stock art and photos at www.canstockphoto.com and www.shutterstock.com

For practice (or to save money) you can get free stock art and photos at www.pixabay.com and www.unsplash.com

The Non-designer’s Design Book by Robin Williams is indespensible to learning good design skills. There’s other advice online.

Formats

Unless you have a reason (or format) not to, a book should be in ebook format no matter what others you choose.

Physical books may or may not interest your audience. It’ll be up to you to decide that.

eBooks will usually outsell physical books, but physical books are also great for gifts and holidays.

Formats – eBook

eBooks can be formatted by publishing sites (like www.Draft2Digital.com) or on your own.

The best tool to format eBooks is www.jutoh.com – it’s powerful enough to write a small book in it.

Your formatting will usually be mobipocket (Kindle) or ePub.

Formats – Physical books

Physical book formatting is more complicated than eBooks, because you have to worry about page breaks, page facing, and more.

Covers will also require careful formatting because of sizing and colors (hint, save in CMYK).

You’ll probably have to run a few copies of physical books to ensure they’re set up right.

Formats – Audiobooks

Audiobooks are a forgotten format – and if you can get your book into audio format, then you have an edge over others.

Publishing

There’s many places to publish, however you want to make sure whatever service you use you end up on www.amazon.com – for obvious reasons.

To easily publish on multiple sources, www.Draft2Digital.com is a mainstay.

Many services like the above do physical books, and www.Lulu.com

Pricing

Pricing affects sales, and cheaper is not always better. People will be concerned that a cheap book isn’t worth it.

Most smaller eBooks are best priced at $2.99.

Larger books seem to center around $4.99, but some go higher.

Physical book pricing is inevitably much higher than eBooks, and often you make more on each physical books.

Promotion – General

Good promotion ties into each other. Your books mention your website, your website points to your newsletter, your newsletter mentions new books, new books go on sale, etc.

You’ll want to read up on promotion. Though a lot of promotion advice is repetitive, that’s because a lot of it is always new to someone.

Promoting – Website

You will want an author’s website, period. You want your own domain, and can set up a website in wordpress.

If you’re on Amazon and/or Draft 2 Digital there are author pages there as well. Set them up and link your website back to them and vice versa.

Mention your website in all of your books.

Promoting – Social Media

Writers should have a Twitter, Facebook presence, and blog to establish a presence. At the very least a blog and twitter is needed.

You may only have so much time, so make your best call.

Hootsuite is a great way to manage social media.

Mention your social media in all of your books.

Promotion – Newsletters

Have a newsletter. Www.mailchimp.com is a perfect place to start.

Send out your newsletter at least monthly if not more (but I’d avoid more than one a week). Mention books, give samples, etc.

If you want to get more people on your newsletter use www.InstaFreebie.com for giveaways or giving out samples.

Marketing - General

Marketing is an inevitable part of book writing. You can’t avoid it – but you can outsource it.

Marketing - Amazon

If you’re publishing things at Amazon, use Amazon Marketing Services (AMS). It’s pretty much point and pay and (hopefully) sell.

If you’re amazon exclusive, you can do book sales and promotions.

Marketing - Reviews

You’ll want to get as many reviews as possible. So make sure you keep a group of friends, family, and readers willing to review for you.

You can also find reviewers at http://www.theindieview.com/indie-reviewers/

You can send books in for review at http://www.midwestbookreview.com/get_rev.htm

There are paid review sites (it’s like the old-school review pools, so is better than it sounds). They do run pricey. https://www.selfpublishingreview.com is a good place to start.

- Steve

www.StevenSavage.com

www.InformoTron.com

[aion-rsa]

Die Hard 2: Making the Sequel to the Greatest Christmas Movie of All

https://ift.tt/2Wue6gW

It’s the most wonderful time of the year – for Die Hard fans.

While there may be a little less festive cheer to go around this December, one thing remains constant during the holiday season: the debate about whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie.

And one man who probably knows better than most is screenwriter Doug Richardson. Besides Bruce Willis himself, Richardson has had a hand in more Die Hard films than almost anyone out there, starting with the similarly festive follow-up Die Hard 2: Die Harder.

While Willis is firmly in the “no” camp on the question of whether Die Hard and its sequel are Christmas movies, Richardson disagrees.

“It is a Christmas movie,” he tells Den of Geek.

“At this time of year, the internet starts to erupt over whether it’s a Christmas movie. It’s very amusing. But I think it fits the movie and if people gather to watch it at this time of year it’s a Christmas movie whether it’s Die Hard or Predator. The argument that comes up is ‘What makes a Christmas movie? Does a Christmas movie have to have Santa Claus in it?’ Suddenly you are defining what a Christmas film is. If it involves Christmas and if it is screened as a perennial every year by streaming services and broadcasters it’s a Christmas movie.”  

Richardson points to fans who have specifically told him how the Die Hard films have become part of their holiday celebrations.

“People tell me it has become their Christmas tradition to watch either Die Hard or Die Hard 2 or both of them with a meal in the middle,” he says. “That’s terrific. Maybe I’ll  try that sometime.”

Still, Richardson acknowledges that the first film “wasn’t written as a Christmas movie” but rather “written in mind that it’s Christmas time.”

In the case of Die Hard 2, the snowbound airport-based sequel to the Nakatomi Tower-based original, it wasn’t even written as Die Hard 2 to begin with. 

58 Minutes

Richardson made history in 1990 as the first Hollywood writer to sell a spec script for a million dollars and would go on to work on the script for the wildly successful Bad Boys.

But back in the late 1980s, when Die Hard first hit multiplexes, he was just starting out as a screenwriter.

“I was, what you would call in Hollywood at the time a baby writer, as in unproduced, cheap but getting a lot of attention,” he explains. “Die Hard had been out for about three weeks and I had already seen it twice. I got a call from [Die Hard producer] Lawrence Gordon, and he and another producer Lloyd Levin invited me in for what I thought was just a general meeting. They wanted to know what I thought of Die Hard. So, I said a whole bunch of nice things about it and they said ‘Well, here’s the thing…’” 

Richardson describes what followed as “one of the smartest things I had ever seen anyone do in Hollywood” as Gordon laid out his scheme.

“Leonard Goldberg, who was the President of production at Fox, wasn’t yet ready to put Die Hard 2 into development. He was being cautious,” Richardson says. “But Lawrence was insistent they were going to want Die Hard 2 and he kind of explained to me the process of doing the sequel. It’s a process that can be overwhelming for producers because as soon as you announce there is going to be a sequel every agency in town starts asking you to meet with their writers or hire this guy or hire that guy and … They didn’t want to have to deal with any of that.”

There was another reason why the producers were keen to avoid such fanfare: Joel Silver, the infamous producer who, according to Richardson, someone compared working with to a “heart attack.”

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“Once it was called Die Hard, once they used that in the sequel, that was when Silver’s contract to come in and produce kicked in,” Richardson explains. “To work with Silver on development of this big sequel was not going to be fun.”

The plan was ingenious in its simplicity. The studio had recently acquired the rights to Walter Wager’s 1987 thriller novel 58 Minutes, and they wanted this to form the basis for Die Hard 2, much like how Roderick Thorp’s Nothing Lasts Forever was adapted into the first film.

“The point was that they were not going to call it Die Hard 2. Because if they called it that, everything just described would avalanche over everybody,” Richardson says.

58 Minutes told the story of Frank Malone, a divorced NYPD cop who, while waiting for his daughter at JFK airport, must foil a plot involving a mysterious man calling himself “Number 1.” The menace is threatening to cut the power to the runway lights unless his demands are met.

“I actually only read it once, in a day, and caught the drift of it. It’s Die Hard at an airport,” Richardson says. “It’s going to be John McClane at an airport. That was the deal. So from the moment I read it I was reading it as Die Hard. I was adapting it in my head the entire time. It was very unfaithful. No disrespect to Walter Wager, but the job was Die Hard so you had to keep it to Die Hard.”

While the idea of writing a follow-up to one of the most iconic action movies of all time might be daunting today, the timing and secrecy of Richardson’s work meant the pressure was off.

“Die Hard was just a film that was getting attention,” he says. “It wasn’t a big hit yet. Back in those days, movies played in theaters a lot longer so it took a while with word of mouth to turn it into a hit. My main concern was I had never written an action movie before. They had read a script I had written called Honor Bright that was almost made like four different times. They really liked it. There was some action in it but it wasn’t an action film but they had faith that I could pull it off. I was still this unknown writer and I was lucky to be working and happy to be working. I was getting paid to write another movie. It was awesome.”

Die Hard in an Airport

Though Richardson’s script was adapted from Wager’s book, he still did his homework on the nuts and bolts of a major international airport.

“I sat in the tower at JFK for three days learning about how planes fly,” he says. “I asked about a few different scenarios: one involving terrorism and another involving whether some planes actually fly with relatively little fuel at some point.”

Richardson submitted his script to Gordon and Levin who were impressed. His timing was perfect.

“Pretty much almost to the day, I’m not kidding, Joe Roth takes over from Goldberg at Fox and says ‘I need Die Hard 2. Where’s Die Hard 2?’ and Lawrence says ‘funny you should ask…’ And then of course the rest happened.”

Though he was warned of what to expect once Silver got involved, it was still difficult to accept.

“I was told that the minute it was announced as Die Hard 2 and Joel’s contract would kick in and he would do what he did on Die Hard which was fire Jeb Stuart [the original writer] and hire Steven E. de Souza and that’s also exactly what happened.”

A prolific screenwriter and script doctor brought in to rewrite and inject more action and humor into pre-existing screenplays, De Souza’s other credits included Commando, 48 Hours, and The Running Man.

He was, and still is, as big as they come but that didn’t make it any easier for Richardson.

“It was a difficult thing to accept that you got a movie greenlit and your reward for having done good work is to get fired,” he says. “Joel’s line to me, which was pretty prophetic, was ‘What are you complaining about? You just wrote a hit movie. Don’t complain, let me do what I do.’”

Read more

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The Rod Serling Christmas Movie You Never Saw

By Chris Farnell

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Why Die Hard 2 Was Sued by Black & Decker

By Simon Brew

One of de Souza’s most notable contributions to the script came with Franco Nero’s General Ramon Esperanza, the military dictator of Val Verde, a fictional central or South American country created for the purposes of the film. There was no denying the obvious subtext of General Esperanza’s backstory though with de Souza borrowing heavily from America’s real-life involvement in the controversial Iran-Contra affair.

But while that change served the sequel effectively other tweaks have not aged as well.

In the film, William Sadler’s villainous Colonel Stuart recalibrates the instrument landing system at Dulles, impersonating an air traffic controller to deliberately crash a British jetliner, killing all 235 people onboard. 

According to Richardson there was “a little bit of slap back” over the sequence when the movie came out and he too acknowledges it goes against “the poppy, hyper-action tenor and tone of the movie.”

Richardson’s original script featured a far more palatable alternative.

“I didn’t want to kill a plane load of people so I crashed a FedEx or UPS aircraft where just the pilots and crew died,” he says. “I did not feel comfortable with that level of terrorism. The whole point of it was to prove what they can do as terrorists. It was meant to be like ‘this is what we can do, don’t mess with us or the next one will be full of people.’ I think de Souza and or Silver or whoever made those decisions at that point.”

The crash could have had even more serious consequences for 20th Century Fox too after one major behind-the-scenes blunder.

“Ed Trudeau was the tower manager at JFK when I visited. He was a well-regarded air force veteran who spent a lot of time with me during my research,” Richardson says. “I put his name in the script as a placeholder for the airport traffic control tower manager but somehow they ended up keeping his actual name in the movie. I didn’t find out until three months before it came out. They had locked me out of the process by then which wasn’t fun. I eventually got a copy of the final shooting script and saw they had used Trudeau’s name. I had to call him and tell him that the tower manager in the film had the same name as him and that a plane crashes and over 200 people die. I wasn’t sure if that was something he would want to have been associated with. The studio should have picked that up before but because I had been frozen out of the process they hadn’t checked with me.”

Fortunately, Trudeau was a good sport, and only wanted to know if the movie was “going to be any good.”

On balance, Richardson is happy with the contribution he made to Die Hard 2 even if there are  some elements of the finished film and his experience on it that irk him slightly – like the fact de Souza took the film to arbitration, claiming sole writing credit.

“I would say it was pretty much my film until the snowmobile sequence, which was where it felt like a James Bond movie all of a sudden,” Richardson says. “That was where it turned more into what de Souza was doing with it. There were bits and pieces of my work all the way through though. De Souza decided he wanted sole credit which was ludicrous and I told him it was ludicrous for him to try. I can’t complain though. Joel was right: I got to write a hit movie and I am very grateful to Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin for being so damn smart.”

Die Hard 3 is NOT a Christmas Movie

Richardson would return a few years later to lend a hand in developing Die Hard with a Vengeance.

Though Jonathan Hensleigh’s script titled Simon Sez formed the basis of Die Hard with a Vengeance, Richardson made a few major contributions – including ditching the Christmas setting.

“My version of Die Hard 3, which there is very little of in the film, was definitely not set at Christmas,” he says. “‘Let’s not do Christmas again’ I remember that was my initial pitch and Bruce was like ‘sounds good to me’. This was when we were up in his place in Sun Valley in the snow in winter. I just said ‘let’s change it to the middle of summer and have it be hot’.”

Richardson’s other main contribution came with the plot point that saw Jeremy Irons’ Simon Gruber rob the Federal Reserve.

By then Richardson had struck up a good working relationship with Willis, even if he does dispel the notion that the star ad-libbed his way through Die Hard in the way Eddie Murphy did with Beverly Hills Cop.

“I know he ad-libbed Yippee-ki-yay but the movie wasn’t as improvised as some people like to think,” he says. “A few lines of dialogue. Except for an aside or a tagline or two they really never were. I don’t think Bruce is the greatest ad-libber in the world. Sometimes I have had to go in and say ‘that’s not good, let’s not do that.’”

Die Hard 4.0

Richardson’s good working relationship with Willis proved to be a blessing and a curse when it came to Die Hard 4.0, a film he says he became involved in after making the mistake of reading a script Willis gave him and offering feedback. Suddenly there was a meeting and suddenly he was writing the movie.

“Die Hard 4 was rough,” he says. “There was a lot of pressure working on Die Hard with a Vengeance but Die Hard 4.0 was ridiculous stupidity. You ended up writing the movie you swore you would never write with the actor who swore he would never be in it anyway.”

The sequence in which McClane essentially fires a car at a helicopter is regularly cited as the moment the franchise jumped the shark – but it was nearly much worse.

“I did in one version of the script have him use a motorcycle to jump on a train. I remember when I wrote it I thought ‘okay this is a little nuts.’ I did eventually get rid of it.”

With the studio setting a release date long before work had begun on the film and Willis still far from convinced with any of the scripts being sent his way, Richardson endured a difficult time on the project – but it hasn’t put him off Die Hard movies or Willis, who he remains on good terms with. 

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

“I love the franchise,” he says. “How many franchises go that far without jumping the shark a bit? It’s hard not to.”

The post Die Hard 2: Making the Sequel to the Greatest Christmas Movie of All appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/38hkYUb

[marymosley]

Google Targets Conservative Sites In Latest Crackdown

Google has moved against another set of conservative sites. While many have celebrated the action against ZeroHedge and The Federalist, I remain deeply concerned over the free speech implications of such actions. I have written for years about public and private censorship, including recent actions to regulate and control speech on the Internet. Democratic leaders have been calling for censorship on the Internet and in social media for years, a move that will destroy the greatest forum for free speech in the history of the world.  Writers have joined in this movement and two such academics recently declared “China was right” all along about censorship.

As will come as no surprise to many on this blog, I view this latest action as another form of private censorship that targets conservative sites while ignoring similar rhetoric from the left.  I am not very complex when it comes to such conflicts over free speech.  I am not as much concerned with the merits of these fights as the implication of targeting some sites over others.  I know very little about ZeroHedge while I am familiar with some of the writers on The Federalist. Google has said comparatively little about the reason for barring the sites and what NBC originally reported has been contradicted by the company. However, it is the explanation given for the action taken against the Federalist that I wanted to address.  It seems to follow the pattern of politically biased, content-based discrimination against conservative sites by companies like Twitter, Facebook, and Google.  Despite the clear bias shown in these actions, most academics are either applauding the crackdown or remaining conspicuously silent as companies silence those with opposing or unpopular views.

NBC News reported yesterday that ZeroHedge and The Federalist were banned from generating revenue through Google Ads. This demonetization of sites is a favorite tool for critics to shutdown writers or sites with opposing views.  Google holds a virtual monopoly on such ad revenue (by some estimates over 70 percent of such revenue). Many groups recognized years ago that they could achieve a form of private censorship by getting Google, Twitter, and other companies to effectively cut off the ability of readers to see opposing views.  For those of us who are part of the dinosaur class on free speech, the solution to bad speech should be more and better speech — rather than preventing others from hearing or reading opposing views.

The NBC reporter Adele-Momoko Fraser broke the story which ncorrectly stated that both sites were demonetized.  The Federalist was not demonetized but warning that it might be demonetized unless it changed its site to meet Google’s demands. In fairness to Fraser, some have claimed that she got the story wrong. However, NBC has quoted a Google spokesperson as saying “When a page or site violates our policies, we take action. In this case, we’ve removed both sites’ ability to monetize with Google.” Google later clarified that it was forcing The Federalist to meet its demands.

In her reporting, Fraser characterized both sites a “far right.”  Again, I am not that familiar with the sites but “far right” or “alt right” has become a ubiquitous label for sites that liberals or Democrats despise.  There are virtually no comparable references to “far left” or “alt left” sites that routinely run conspiracy theories about Republicans or raw hateful statements against conservative figures like the Daily Kos and other sites.

Here is what Google noted about the Federalist action.

The Federalist published an article claiming the media had been lying about looting and violence during the protests, which were both included in the report sent to Google.

This is a common view held by both conservative politicians and writers today.  Indeed, it often seems that you have to turn to Fox to check on the rioting and turn to CNN to check on the protesting.  While one side claims that the rioting is being ignored, the other is claiming that it is being overblown.

This is a legitimate debate over the focus and bias of coverage. For example, Craig Melvin, an MSNBC host and co-anchor of “Today,” tweeted a “guide” that the images “on the ground” are not to be described as rioting but rather “protests.”  That and other reporting led too many questioning the disconnect in reporting on peaceful protests with the scenes of burning buildings in the background and the report of hundreds of officers injured during the protests.

Then however a new reason for the threat came from Google which objected to its comment section.  As we have discussed previously, many sites have eliminated their comments section because of trolls, paid or bot comments, or offensive speech.  As one of the larger sites committed to free speech issues, we have resisted this trend to be open a forum for people to express themselves.  We have tried to respond to complaints about offensive speech and in relatively few cases we have barred those who engage in such commentary.  Because I have teaching and litigation duties,  I have to rely on people raising racist or offensive content.  However, comment section allow people to express their views and, while I often disagree with comments, I have tried not to censor them. Indeed, I routinely leave comments that insult me or say things that are demonstrably untrue about my past writings or testimony.  The reason is that I feel uncomfortable with the role of censoring, particularly when I am the subject of the criticism.

Google has demanded that The Federalist remove its comment section because it offended the company’s policy against “dangerous and derogatory content.” The Federalist relented and reportedly eliminated its comment section.  The result is the loss of the forum for individuals to exchange their views.  The response of Google was an unmistakable message that sites would either comply with its demands or face ruin:

“Our policies do not allow ads to run against dangerous or derogatory content, which includes comments on sites, and we offer guidance and best practices to publishers on how to comply. As the comment section has now been removed, we consider this matter resolved and no action will be taken.”

There is also a concern over the NBC reporting. It was not only incorrect on the facts of the Goggle story but Fraser appeared to erase the line between reporting and advocacy in congratulating groups which target sites on the rights and seemingly celebrating the result.

Adele-Momoko Fraser

@AMFraserNBC

NEW — from @NBC_VC. Thanks to @SFFakeNews and @CCDHate for their hard work and collaboration! https://twitter.com/NBC_VC/status/1272962743436374016 …

NBC News VC

@NBC_VC

Two far-right sites, ZeroHedge and The Federalist, will no longer be able to generate revenue from any advertisements served by Google Ads.@AMFraserNBC reports.https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/google-bans-two-websites-its-ad-platform-over-protest-articles-n1231176 …

152

3:43 PM – Jun 16, 2020

Twitter Ads info and privacy

The Federalist complained that NBC did little to seek their view before running the story. Fraser relied on the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a British nonprofit that targets online hate and misinformation. Conservative sites have complained that the group is primarily seeking to shutdown conservative sites by labeling them purveyors of hate, including holding them responsible of comments.

As we discussed earlier with regard to Twitter, Google seems to be making the case for not only pushing forward with anti-trust inquiries but stripping it and other companies of immunity protections. Indeed, the Justice Department just announced that it is moving forward with proposals to strip away protections.  Google and other companies were given protections under Section 320 because it has claimed to being a neutral supplier of virtual space for people to speak with one another.  It is now effectively shutting down sites because they allow others to comment freely on their sites.  This biased targeting of sites has led to congressional objections and renewed threats to amend the federal law.  Indeed, Google is undermining the support with some of us who viewed protections are fostering free speech values.  It is now using its role to stifle and regulate speech, the very antithesis of not just free speech but the federal protections.

  Google Targets Conservative Sites In Latest Crackdown published first on https://immigrationlawyerto.tumblr.com/

[theatopaz]

Lone Wolf Lost Among Flock of Sheep: Peace and Success of Leadership

Wednesday, 13th May 2020

To begin and a reminder. My writing is to be taken lightly and humorous because I like to take life easy. Nothing in life is perfect and I am certainly the fine example of it. Let us begin. 

Stop! Breathe! Take a deep breath. Calm down! Stop what you are doing! Feel and see! Life before your eyes. Can you feel the peace slowly surrounding you?

Why are we rushing and dashing through life instead of observing and enjoying what life has given us? Are we in competition and what is the grand prize besides losing our peace of mind, affecting our health and ruining our happiness?

“The purpose of our lives is to be happy,” said Dalai Lama. Why are we not doing that? I want to be happy. My life is not a competition. I am not competing with anybody besides myself. I always wanted to be the best because I know I can but I forgot everything takes time and moderation. 

 Yes, I might be slow or the last one but I want to enjoy my journey. I want to be happy. Nobody owns me happiness. I own myself happiness since this is a temporary world. Might as well enjoy the beauty of it. We don’t know where we are going next after we die. Life has so much to offer if we are willing to take the risk and find it. None of us takes a pause and looks around our surroundings. 

If you stopped and think about it. Everyone is so engrossed wanting to be number 1 that they forget that success comes with a prize too which is our peace. The taste of success is rather grand. Not all success is great. Let me use a wolf that got lost in among a flock of most brainless sheep.

Not everyone is happy nor share the same joy instead they grief when it comes to celebrating other people's success. Other people don't have the same heart as some of us. They dislike other people's progress just because they are afraid to take the risk and put in the hard work. Instead, they would rather laugh and tear the progress being done by the other person. They take advantage of it and destroy it. I am speaking from experience because success can also lead to failure. My success was getting into University Malaya for my Masters but my popularity on the spotlight led me to my failure. Nobody shares the same heart and love as you and they are scared of someone who has a better heart than them. Sometimes it’s better to be quiet like a sly fox.

Last year, I got the bittersweet taste of success and to tell you it was everything I dream for but it came with a price. Everyone's attention is on you. Not everyone is happy with your success. I did a mistake of sharing my happiness and joy with others unknowingly I was a wolf among sheep. If you think a wolf is a dangerous creature. Think again. Imagine a flock of sheep with the same stupid mindset. The flock of sheep are the real enemies to the wolf. How contagious it can be for the wolf to be lost among the sheep?

Wolf doesn't attack humans like other creatures. It's a common misconception that we have an image of a wolf. The wolf is a magnificent, beautiful creature that God has created. It only attack animals because it’s natural instincts is to hunt and sometimes the wolf hunt in packs. Unfortunately, one wolf got scared in life became a sheep brain. Yes, that was me. When I got the taste of success in life. I did not like what I saw it did to others when they reached the top. I was rather a hippie last year. Wanting world peace and all that crap. I wanted justice. I wanted to get into law but I did not know that the Universe wanted me to realize that I was special and I deserve to find my own peace and happiness. I got lost among a flock of sheep that made me sick because I was allergic to their fur and meat. 

The Universe created the wolf so beautiful. Pause. Look at the image above. What do you see when you think about the wolf? For me, the animal disturbs nobody except during feeding time. The wolf is an independent, gentle, intelligent, non-aggressive, and friendly creature. It lives alone and has its own life. However, when some people see the wolf, they think of the Big, Bad Wolf from Grimm’s Fairy tale. They tell lies and tales of the wolf. Is it because they see something that they are afraid they don’t possess like Integrity? Loyalty? Success? Top of the food chain? Unlike those flock of sheep?

Have you seen how aggressive sheep can be? Look at this video below. Sheep are violent creatures. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eK8Yi8dZvg’

The flock of sheep looks meek and pretend to be weak. Have you noticed that a sheep don’t have a leader rather it has a shepherd to look after the flock? They eat the whole day, they do nothing the whole day but laze around and they are only good for meat and fur. They need to be provided for. They are only good for populating more sheep and continuing the cycle. It makes noise such as BAH! BAH! BAH! They run here and there. Never even in the same spot. Same goes for humans. 

Successful entrepreneurs are often perceived as a wolf who leads sheep to shelter and provide for the flock in exchange for their energy and contribution to the company because everybody has to play their role in the ecosystem in the world. Without the wolf, many will be jobless, the economy will go down, many will have no food to feed the starving little lambs at home. Nobody thanks the wolf, instead they get lost among the flock when the wolf takes care of them and bosses them around. 

Have you seen the sheep being a wolf? We often have seen an image of wolf becoming a sheep by wearing the sheep fur but not the other way around. Why is that? When the wolf goes down, the sheep attacks as a pack. Leaders are not perfect but they try the best for their companies and want everyone to be successful because they love their people. There is a difference between being a boss and a leader. A leader leads, the rest follows. A leader inspires others. True leaders don’t argue in politics rather they build their empires elsewhere and show for it. True leaders want to empower not power, unlike politicians and bosses. 

Sheep baa and mah all the time. They don’t take action. They are only good for gossiping and complaining.  It just takes one howl of the wolf to get it noticed during the full moon. Divine timing tells everything, don’t you think?

See the picture above? I want to smile, be happy and have peace. I want to be a happy wolf. Smiley wolf. 

My job last year was to go to university and discover I got leadership traits and that law and politics are not my cups of tea. That is the failure that has to lead me to my success which was peace. I did not know that all I wanted not another piece of paper which I thought would bring me happiness but rather a peace of mind after leaving it behind. I still shake and jerk because of the trauma I experienced at university that affected my health and well being. Wolf should never go near sheep but rather find other wolf and run in packs. I did a mistake of becoming a sheep and paid the price for it. 

Leaders are born, they made through constant failure and success. Leaders are humble. Have you seen an arrogant sheep? Have you ever seen an arrogant wolf? There are none. Wolf is humble and sweet. Sheep are arrogant because they look cute and sweet. A sheep cannot be a wolf. Wolf is not afraid to be alone because they are strong and can stand alone. Sheep always need to be constantly be protected in a flock and they are always near each other. They are scared. True leaders take a risk in life, true leaders try something new, they create and produce and innovate. True leaders faced failures and overcome them and help others. 

I might not be a leader because I don’t want to be a leader. I want to be a kind human being who doesn’t earn bad karma and keep on repeating karmic cycles. I want everyone to showcase their talents and get the respect they well deserved with their talents in the future. Southeast Asia has a wonderful collection of writers, artists, musicians and others who are not recognized because we don’t have a Hollywood of our own. Time to change that trend when the time comes because we are truly blessed with creative human beings that the Universe has created. 

My favourite quote is Walt Whitman is that “Peace is always beautiful”. We should all work together for peace instead of creating wars. Peace is so peaceful and beautiful. Why can’t we have it all? All it takes is being less aggressive with ego and being more humble with our pride. Take time to analyze instead of manipulating through life. 

[mathewingram]

A personal take on those plagiarism accusations against former NYT editor Jill Abramson

Note: This is something I originally published on the New Gatekeepers blog at the Columbia Journalism Review, where I’m the chief digital writer

It’s an odd feeling to have an otherwise unremarkable passage you wrote appear as an exhibit in a case of plagiarism, especially when those accusations relate to the former executive editor of The New York Times, and especially when the allegedly plagiarized passages appear in a book about the state of modern media and journalistic ethics. And yet, here we are. Just to recap, a chunk of a blog post I wrote for CJR in May of last year, about Facebook cracking down on “low quality” news, appears with what are arguably minor alterations in former Times executive editor Jill Abramson’s book “Merchants of Truth.” I know this because Michael Moynihan, a correspondent for Vice News Tonight on HBO, collected a number of examples of alleged plagiarism in a Twitter thread on Wednesday, and my blog post was one of them.

Here Abramson–in a treatise on journalistic ethics–copies a passage from…the Columbia Journalism Reviewhttps://t.co/mZZlA4odqw pic.twitter.com/gZVxQ1dc3Z

— Michael C Moynihan (@mcmoynihan) February 6, 2019

Do I feel as though something has been stolen from me? Not really. It was a fairly factual description in a fairly factual blog post, not something creative that I agonized over for weeks. And yet, it’s still irritating that there’s no mention of where it appeared at all. Would it have been that hard to say “as mentioned in CJR?” That would have been nice. And that’s in part what plagiarism is — it’s not a law, it’s more of a standard of behavior that we hopefully aspire to, especially as journalists. It may be an antiquated concept with all the aggregation that happens in our current media environment, but this isn’t a quickly lashed-together blog post, it’s a book by the former executive editor of The New York Times, who theoretically should know better. And it undoubtedly reminds some (including me) of the nonchalance with which that newspaper often does stories that other news outlets have covered without mentioning or linking to them, something the paper’s own public editor referred to as a failing.

There also appear to be much more egregious examples than the one involving me. In all, Moynihan listed six examples in which material from other places appeared with relatively minor alterations in Abramson’s book, and he only looked at the chapters that referred to Vice. That’s six examples from two chapters. Writer Ian Frisch also posted more than half a dozen examples from the book where large sections from a piece he wrote about Vice — a piece that was only ever published on his personal website — were used, including quotes from interviews he did. Frisch later noted that while credit is given in the end notes of Abramson’s book, “the endnotes do not go into the depth of how much this section about Thomas relied on my article. She quotes Thomas as if he’s speaking to her directly. This would not fly for a mag article.” Moynihan noted that at least two of the examples he gave — including one where a paragraph was used virtually verbatim — were not cited in the book’s end notes at all.

In a response on Fox News, where she was being interviewed by Martha MacCallum, Abramson said “I most certainly did not plagiarise in my book,” but later added on Twitter that she takes the allegations seriously and would “review the passages in question.” She also said she “endeavored to accurately and properly give attribution to the hundreds of sources that were part of my research,” and that the attacks on her book from Vice staff reflected their unhappiness with her portrayal of the company, which she referred to as “balanced.” Her publisher, Simon & Schuster, which paid a rumored $1 million for the rights to the book, issued a statement saying the book was “exhaustively researched and meticulously sourced,” but that if any changes or attributions were necessary, “we stand ready to work with the author in making those revisions.” (I reached out to Abramson for comment but as of publication time had not received anything. If I do get a response, I will add it here).

A number of people have defended Abramson’s approach, including NYU law professor and intellectual property expert Christopher Sprigman, who said that the “so-called plagiarism controversy is fake,” since Abramson just took “basic facts and re-phrased them.” True plagiarism, he said, is taking others’ original ideas or distinctive expressions without credit. But while that may be the way some people see the concept, it’s not the way Jill Abramson described it when she was the managing editor of The Times, when the newspaper was accused of plagiarizing two sentences from a piece written for The Miami Herald. Even though the sentences were factual, Abramson told Slate writer Jack Shafer that the Times writer had committed plagiarism. “I think when you take material almost word-for-word and don’t credit it,” that qualifies as plagiarism, she said.

There’s no question that the word “plagiarism” has a fairly wide range of definitions, depending on who is doing the defining. A guide to how to avoid plagiarism published by Sprigman’s university, for example, has 11 different variations on the term, including The Ghost Writer and The Misinformer. It defines what it calls the “too-perfect paraphrase” as when a writer cites a source “but neglects to put in quotation marks text that has been copied word-for-word, or close to it.” And as Moynihan mentioned, at least two of the sections that Abramson used that are virtually verbatim — a section from Malooley’s Time Out article and one from the Ryerson Review of Journalism magazine in Toronto — are not referred to in the end notes at all. It’s not that doing this should be considered a capital crime, it’s more that if you’re the former executive editor of one of the leading journalistic institutions in the country, and you’re writing a book at least in part about journalistic ethics, you should maybe be held to a somewhat higher standard than if you were a freelancer writing your 15th blog post of the day.

A personal take on those plagiarism accusations against former NYT editor Jill Abramson was originally published on mathewingram.com/work

[neonlustmusic]

Our First Review of a Review: Pitchfork’s Review of LATEST HEALTH album gets 0.0

Review of a Review: Pitchfork’s Review of Latest Health Album Gets 0.0

On  February 11, 2019, Pitchfork.com published sasha geffen’s review of the new Health album,  VOL. 4:: SLAVES OF FEAR, which is another example of the tone-deaf-ness of many of the website’s reviewers, and the website’s general unfriendliness and ornery policies. This particularly bellicose article BEGS to be brought to task, so it has the unique privilege of serving as our very first “Review of a Review,” which we have given a 0.0.

I am first of all startled by the ignorance and, I’ll just say it, hatefulness of this review. The review itself seems very un-necessary. Again, I find myself circling to the point where music journalism cancels itself out: what really is the point of publishing a bad review? And further, who approved this review? Who hired this author? What are her credentials? Does she play an instrument? Has she ever been in a successful band? Is she not getting laid? Why is she so hostile? What could possibly explain the venom this author espoused? Another point where music journalism finds itself at a Scylla and Charybdis moment: how do we fairly review a new release? Don’t we need to spend more time with a release? Are all of Pitchfork’s harsh reviews just based on snap judgments and first impressions? Additionally, are the authors assigned to review works generally fans of the artist/genre? There obviously is the potential for biases and conflicts of interests. All of the above could explain the 3.4 that sasha gave to this excellent release, which is only one of the problems NLP had with this review.

The article seems to contradict all of the journalistic principals that we hold here at Neon Lust Productions. It is unfortunate that this review and author is bringing out the worst in us, but when others lack decorum, we don’t have to return it. We will not turn the other cheek, and neither should the band HEALTH, after this disrespectful and repugnant review. Like Nicki Minaj who recently cancelled her BET Festival performance after a diss-tweet, so HEALTH should refuse to participate in any Pitchfork events until some explanation is given for this review. Aside from the usual snobbery and harshness that Pitchfork generally has practiced since day one, this article reaches a new low, it gets personal, and it fails to fulfill any purpose except perhaps the author’s deadline. I’m not even going to get into the article’s organization because I feel like we could spend enough time simply critiquing the problematic statements coming out of geffen’s mouth.

Like all problematic attempts to discuss a work, this review begins with reference to past Health releases, and begins with the basic premise that the band will not be the same since departure of a founding member. It’s definitely a problem when a reviewer doesn’t meet a work on its own terms but rather arrives with a set of preconceptions and expectations; in other words, prejudice. Immediately, geffen’s ignorance rises to the surface here. Without knowing anything about her, I wonder if she has ever written a song or been in a band? I wonder if she has any deep understanding of the difficulties and dynamics of being in a band? And if she has specific insight into the workings of this particular band, if she can speak to the levels of input each member made? I also wonder if, as someone with obvious gender/sex fluidity, and flaming androgyny, why she would be so obsessed with fixed, stable identities. Many bands shed skin after a member leaves, or focus on different aspects of their sound after a reconfiguration. Most bands we know and love have experienced lineup changes; however, too bad for Health, in geffen’s eyes, SLAVES OF FEAR never had a chance to be a good album.

Geffen goes on to say that SLAVES OF FEAR “loses [the] thematic and musical density packed into the first three albums…Gone are the complex, ferocious rattles of percussion.”  In response, I say two things: did you even listen to the album? This album is very dense. The themes are there. And the complex ferocious percussion is gone, but in its place we have these pulsating movie soundtrack drums. The band has evolved. That’s what artists are supposed to do. I wonder if geffen has evolved beyond knowing how to play a C-major on an acoustic guitar. Of course, these are offensive and hostile assumptions I am making, but they are same kind that geffen dished out.

Later in the review she says, the “singer sounds clouded and dulled, like the record’s pervasive, muddy low end is dragging him down.”  I am left with my jaw on the floor. Obviously she doesn’t like the album, but she offers no neutral explication of the album. This review is too personal and biased. It seems like Pitchfork is flirting with becoming the FOX NEWS of music journalism for its obvious bent and skewered POV. Further the review is as negative and wallowing as the author claims of the album. The singer is not cloudy and dulled (if that’s even the accurate description) (I would say “hazy”) but nevertheless, it’s the same style on ALL three previous albums. Additionally, she complains that HEALTH once had “lithe, multifaceted songs that wrapped daring pop melodies in bristling noise.” Um, are we talking about the same Health? I never heard “lithe” (graceful, supple) Health songs. How can geffen simultaneously complain that the band is no longer ferocious AND no longer lithe. The review and author are paradoxical, confused, possibly high on drugs. This is not a sober, straight-faced, honest review that meets the work on its own terms to discuss its merits, technique, etc. I am interested in seeing geffen’s rubric for writing a review, or Pitchfork’s, if they even have one. Or do the writers get one day with an album and fart out words? I’m using fart, as distasteful as that metaphor is, because geffen herself used it.

In another part of the review geffen says, “distorted power chords abound throughout Slaves of Fear, but they tend to come in ones and twos, not progressions. ‘Feel Nothing’ breaks up its vocal segments with a chugging fart of a guitar riff, the kind you’d hear choked out of a flying V and a practice amp at Guitar Center.” The above sentences are deeply problematic, and I am very concerned that a person who writes like this is actually getting paid to write for a respectable internet magazine. These sentences are empty (again like geffen says about SOF), offensive, childish, ignorant. SO MANY ADJECTIVES. A BIG WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS PERSON. First question: does she even play guitar? Why is she so ornery? What is her deal? What is this about distorted power chords in ones and twos? What does that mean? Like Donald himself, our 45th “president”, whenever he speaks about anything, this review fails to explain herself and only deals in empty banalities and nonsense. Also like Donald’s speeches, this review rambles on and on, without any direction, sprinkled with horrific phrases. Additionally, why the hate on flying V’s. What kind of music does this person listen to? For someone who speaks from such a high horse, with such supposed knowledge about heavy music, how could she be so ignorant and unfriendly to the guitar communities and learners who go to Guitar Center. When was the last time she was in one? What a terrible, terrible metaphor.

But the shit tempest that geffen conjured does not end there. Her filthy review goes on to say, “I suspect the song got stuck with the name “Feel Nothing” because there’s already a  nu-metal track called “Numb,” and while this isn’t the place to discuss the relative merits of Linkin Park, their take on a the time-honored tradition of freezing away existential pain at least came with four whole chords and a hook.”

Another WTF moment from Pulitzer-winning and shit-grinning geffen. It looks like in her twitter profile pic she’s staring into a mirror. I hope she takes a long-hard look and thinks about her life. Now she’s criticizing HEALTH for not writing a nu-metal anthem, and comparing them to LInkin Park? Did this article even get edited? Who let this shit fly? It’s literally shit. I hope geffen sorts out her life, texts her parents, and maybe takes a walk. Anything. Please. Consider getting therapy. You are not ok.

Later, geffen says, “so little happens musically on Slaves of Fear that the ear tends to fall on what Duzsik is actually singing, which is scrambled magnetic teen poetry.” What do you mean so little happens? Aren’t as a review you are supposed to consult interviews, other press about the release, to get insight into the artist intentions and background? There is a lot going on. Open your ears. The record is massive. The band put a lot of work into it; look into the interviews they gave regarding SOF. Did you even research who worked on the album or where it was made? Or HOW it was made? Things people seek in a review. And by the way, if you want to call it “scrambled magnetic teen poetry” (which I don’t understand), it’s still nevertheless better written than your miserable review, sasha.

Later, the article complains that the band are “too miserable”, saying “Loss Deluxe” is stuttering, hollow. And that “the band seems content to throw up their hands and just die. Slaves of Fear forgoes riffs and instead just wallows. This shit does not shred.” I disagree, the band does shred. It’s harsh as fuck. Moreover, there is nothing wrong with wallowing and being miserable. If you are so miserable yourself, sasha, why deprive others of accessing that same joyless joy that sustains you?

At the tail end of this difficult review, sasha makes a simple-minded complaint about the band using Slaves in the title, and says something opaque about the connection to the institution of slavery. How dumb do you have to be to actually think that that’s a legitimate concern, or that the band actually intended that connection to be made. Sasha so desperately needs something to say that she is now policing language. This writer is just as lazy and incompetent.  She later complains that the record is not more hopeful and positive enough. In a way, I’m thankful for her review because I’ve never had an opportunity to do this kind of review, and sasha was such an easy target, literally asking for it, to be brought down into the mud herself.

This review is the perfect example of uneducated and unqualified writers who hold the careers of artists in their hands and are irresponsible with this unique privilege. Geffen’s review didn’t need to be written, Pitchfork didn’t need to publish this hate. Everyone here looks bad. Least of all the band, however, who will continue making excellent albums in spite of this. Clearly sasha was not the intended audience, and for some reason, she took it personal, reaching very far into the depths of her confused soul to tarnish her own reputation for whatever reason.

I urge Pitchfork to take a professional look at itself and review its policies on the issues we’ve outlined here.  Please stop publishing this bullshit.

Original article: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/health-vol-4-slaves-of-fear/ 

[kadobeclothing]

After Ulrika Jonsson’s furious letter to her breasts, five Sun writers pen notes to their own boobs – The Sun

THESE writers have something to get off their chest. After Ulrika Jonsson penned a furious letter to her breasts, five Sun writers want to share their thoughts on their bosom. 9 ‘Seriously, t*ts. You get on my t*ts’, said Ulrika JonssonCredit: Rex FeaturesUlrika, 52, took to Instagram last week to complain about the fluctuating size and shape of her assets. She told how she had a breast reduction in 2009, to flatter her shape,  but the menopause had caused them to inflate. And having unexpectedly lost weight recently, she has watched her bosom shrink and lose “volume”. The mum-of-four ended her blistering rant: “Seriously, t*ts. You get on my t*ts.” Here, Page 3 girls Rhian Sugden and Peta Todd, and writers Bella Battle, Samantha Brick, and Luce Brett reveal what their breasts have meant to them over the years. 9 The Sun’s story on Ulrika’s rant at to her boobs’While you’ve still got it, flaunt it’ Rhian Sugden says: Hey Girls,  You’ve had many names over the years, chosen by boyfriends, instagrammers and Page 3 fanatics, but to me you will always be the Girls. I am forever grateful for the opportunities you have given me in my life – you have opened up more doors for me than any man ever has. 9 I love the fact that you are a pair of show-offs. No matter how much I try to cover you up, you always, somehow, manage to let the world know you existMy glorious boobs, thanks for being such troupers and going with the flow when I decided I wanted to flash you to the general public. Twelve years and counting you’ve done me proud, Girls. What with your late arrival into my life I felt the need to show those bullies, who called me flat-chested, that good things come to those who wait. I love the fact that you are a pair of show-offs. No matter how much I try to cover you up, you always, somehow, manage to let the world know you exist. I’m sorry for threatening to slice you off to a smaller cup size but your endless fluctuations can be quite stressful at times. Some days you make it difficult for me to run up the stairs, and my dance moves are no longer my own – you certainly know how to steal my thunder. 9 I am forever grateful for the opportunities you have given me in my life – you have opened up more doors for me than any man ever has.But I just want to say thanks for always being the front of house and shaping my clothes nicely. Most of all, thanks for giving me the opportunity to forge a career where I have been able to earn a living and become one of the longest-standing Page 3 girls. Without you this would have been impossible. I’m forever grateful for your existence and my femininity exudes because of you. I promise to be more supportive in our ups and downs, and I dread the day that gravity takes over and you have to stare at the ground. Until then – while you’ve still got it, flaunt it. Love, Rhian Sugden ‘Girls, you were my suit of armour’ Peta Todd says: Ahhhh boobs, My dear old not-quite-as-gravity-defying-as-you-once-were boobs. For almost a decade you paid my wages and became a suit of armour, protecting me from the judgments of who I was because of my Page 3 job. 9 I have both loved and loathed ‘the girls’ over the years but I am not them and they are not me.Credit: Alison Webster – The SunI found it easier to brush off the stereotype when people made assumptions about the type of person that was behind the bra. At school, I knew I was the same person I was before puberty hit but now I needed bigger shirts that fitted properly. When you developed almost overnight, it prompted girls at school to snipe that I “stuffed my bra” and boys to suddenly care what I had to say. I found it confusing that the size of my crop top could change how people thought of me. I quickly learned it was about them, not me or my bra size, and I couldn’t let it affect how I viewed my body. Do I sometimes wish you were smaller so I could wear nice tops and pretty bras? Yup. Or at least lighter so I didn’t get huge dips in my shoulders from their weight? For sure. 9 I found it confusing that the size of my crop top could change how people thought of meCredit: Stewart Williams – The SunI certainly do wish society didn’t define our intelligence or worth by a cup size. But when I think of you, my boobs now, I don’t think of the magazine covers or the dirty looks from girls thinking I had them “on display” on purpose, when I had actually tried to hide them. I think of my babies tucked in, close to my heart as they took their first breath. I can feel a clammy hand of a restless toddler inside my top for comfort and them shouting out “boooobies” when I’m getting dressed. I have both loved and loathed “the girls” over the years but I am not them and they are not me. But together our story certainly hasn’t been boring. Love Peta Todd ‘Your small size pleases me greatly’ Samantha Brick says: Hey Girls! I am celebrating my 49th birthday next month and I want to say thank you for getting me this far. When I admire you in the mirror, you please me greatly. You haven’t headed south. You don’t droop. You haven’t a single stretch mark. You certainly haven’t given me any back pain, either. Granted your 34B size swells a bit just before my period, but if anything, I like you even more then. 9 When I admire you in the mirror, you please me greatlyI know I wasn’t always happy with you and for that I am sorry. In my late teens, when I was stuck with a tiny cleavage, I was dead frustrated. Back then Samantha Fox had glorious D cups. That’s why I toyed with the idea of tinkering with your size. In my 20s I wanted Baywatch-sized boobs, but thank God I didn’t get them. The ease with which we were booked to go under the knife put me off for starters. That’s why, in my 30s, I visited another – more sensible – surgeon, who advised me to pop bags filled with rice into each cup of the bra size I thought I wanted. When I did, I was horrified – I was Dolly  Parton-esque. That was 15 years ago. Since then I’ve been very happy to say “I’ve got small boobs”. Small boobs are Mother Nature’s best kept secret. You look perfectly perky braless in a vest top, string bikini or boob tube. That’s why I bloody love you girls. Love Samantha Brick ‘Even when I dieted you’d stick around’ Luce Brett says: You two, You exceeded expectations (and regular sizes) from the start. You were easy to hate, wobbling, heavy as others wore pretty crop tops. You always upstaged me, entered rooms first and restricted my choice of wedding dress. 9 You gave me a view I’ll never forget – a little head, feeding, my sons bobbing and snugglingI resented it when people stared or spoke to you, not to my face. When strangers gawped – or worse – groped you I wanted to shout, “This is my body, not a fashion choice. They aren’t who I am”. But life went on. I accepted that even when I dieted you just stuck around, belligerently buxom. You shone when my babies came. Midwives helped you to feed. Pumps increased supply. And soon you were my resilient “lucky t*ts”, the good news after a long and gruelling delivery. You gave me a view I’ll never forget – a little head, feeding, my sons bobbing and snuggling. Sagging, and still needing some support, you emerged a monument to the ups and downs of womanhood. Like me, a little broken, stretch-marked from ambition and hard work but still hanging on. In mid-life you are a reminder, too. We all know too many who have lost a boob – had them removed, cut up, rebuilt. We’ve seen too many women in that medical nightmare after a cell went rogue.You had another lesson for me last year, when we lost a friend. Whatever shape or size you are, you are at least still here. And I am grateful, very grateful, for that. Love Luce Brett MYSTIC MEG January 31: When you meet a friend for coffee your new love should be there too SO RAD Cleaning fans hail tip of using your radiator to make your house smell fresh MAGIC CARPET B&M’s selling fluffy rugs for £2 and they come in Mrs Hinch’s favourite grey TESC-NO Furious mum demands Tesco remove their ‘weird’ Valentine’s Day card for kids SEX ED Love Island sex positions lowdown – the Mermaid, Candle, Butter Churner and Turtle CROWNING GLORY Kate Middleton can borrow Queen’s jewels after ‘befriending Angela Kelly’  ‘You’re actually a pair of riotous smashers’ Bella Battle says: Dear Funbags, Oh how I hated you when I was young. Longing to be girlish and slight, I prayed for a neat handful so I wouldn’t need a bra in summer. Instead, you bounded on the scene like two ungainly terriers squabbling over a squeaky toy. Poring over magazine articles on “his biggest physical turn-offs”, I was convinced you were all wrong. Boobs that were “right” resembled plump little peaches with a tiny cherry on top. You were like a very drunk version of that. 9 My friends may mourn the perky boobs of their youth but I secretly, guiltily, welcome them to my clubCredit: Olivia West – The SunYou wobbled too much, you couldn’t be bothered to stand to attention, and (your worst sin) you played merry hell with the nipple-to-breast ratio. I quite liked that you were big but I was otherwise deeply ashamed of you. Years later, I see what a waste of energy all that misery was –  you’re actually a pair of riotous smashers. I give less of a toss about perfection the older I get. So where once I wanted a refund, now I’m pretty chuffed with you. You make me feel powerful and sexy. I know what clothes flatter you and men seem to love you. Even better, I love you. Of course, it helps that gravity and children have levelled the playing field around me. My friends may mourn the perky boobs of their youth but I secretly, guiltily, welcome them to my club. I’ve also seen women I love wrestle with breast cancer, forced to rebuild the jigsaw of their femininity after mastectomies. So I know how lucky I am to have you. I buy lingerie that flatters and hugs, rather than tortures you. I recently weighed you on some kitchen scales at a party. I intend to cherish every single second you remain perched higher than my navel. Yours gratefully Bella Battle Ulrika Jonsson ‘goes back 30 years’ as she does the weather on GMB  Source link

source https://www.kadobeclothing.store/after-ulrika-jonssons-furious-letter-to-her-breasts-five-sun-writers-pen-notes-to-their-own-boobs-the-sun/